Animayhem!
by jedimickey
Summary: When an ancient god arises to destroy the universe and it's worlds, only four heroes of legend can heed the call, and destroy the ancient evil...that is of course...provided they don't destroy each other first...
1. Storm on the Grand Line

**Jedimickey proudly presents**

**Animayhem**

**Chapter 1: Storm on the Grand Line**

**The Prophecy of the Worlds**

_Disturb not the harmony of the worlds among the cosmos_

_For if the balance is broken, evil will be released, and no hero shall prevail_

_Only four may rise to the call of the hero_

"_The Mistress of Cards", "The boy who bears nine tails", "The canine hero", and the "Stretching Outlaw"_

_When the four hero's arise and heed the call_

_Only then, can evil be banished_

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The caw of seagulls rang out as a small, odd looking ship, sailed across the sea. This sea was known as "The Grand Line" a special strip of ocean that was said to hold the legendary treasure known only as "One Piece" Which was said to belong to the infamous Pirate King, Gold Roger.

Aboard this odd looking ship (Known as the Going Merry), was another pirate, whose name had also become infamous, "Monkey D. Luffy" During his travels around the world, he managed to rack up a serious ransom on his head of 300,000,000 million Beli. Luffy was no ordinary pirate, gifted with the curse of the "Gum Gum" fruit, he can stretch his body to almost an infinite amount of possible forms. The only other thing Luffy was known for, was his signature straw hat (which he never went anywhere without)

Luffy had himself stretched out (literally) across the crossbeam as he snoozed. Nami, the ships navigator, was not entirely amused by her 'captains' lazy attitude.

"Luffy…Hey…Luffy??" Nami sighed. "WAKE UP YOU LAZY BUM!!!!"

Nami growled as she smacked the mast with her staff, waking Luffy up instantly. Poor Luffy then ended up falling off the crossbeam, and face planting onto the deck hard.

"Ok Nami, you got my attention…" Luffy said, his voice was muffled as he lay on the deck.

Nami just sighed as he orange locks flapped in the wind.

"Look Luffy, You've done nothing but sleep, at least try and do something productive with your time…" Nami scolded.

Luffy looked up at Nami, eyes still a little droopy from sleep. At last Luffy got to his lanky feet and walked over to the railing where the ship's gunner, the long nosed Ussop, sat.

"What's the matter Luffy?" He asked.

"Nami woke me up…" Luffy groaned. "All because I slept for a bit…"

"Luffy, it's already 4:00 in the afternoon!" Ussop pointed out.

Luffy just sighed and took off his straw hat, letting his black hair flap in the wind.

"I can't help it, I'm bored!" Luffy complained. "Nothing ever exciting happens!"

Ussop looked at the Straw Hat Pirate in utter shock.

"Are you kidding!? Two months ago, we just helped liberate the Kingdom of Alabasta! How is that not exciting??" Ussop cried in shock.

Luffy looked at him in confusion before simply shrugging. Ussop just sighed in frustration, Luffy was one of the toughest fighters to sail the seas, though he could be a major airhead at times.

"Look Luffy, I can't help you… Why don't you go and see if you can spot any land…" Ussop suggested.

Luffy gave him in exasperated look. Luffy then sighed and went over to the mast again, he really didn't want to go out and look for land, but it was better than doing nothing.

Luffy stretched his arms out and wrapped them around the crossbeam.

"**GUM GUM ROCKET!**" Luffy cried.

Luffy's arms acted as a slingshot, pulling Luffy up, and launching him into the air. Luffy landed gracefully in the crows nest and began to his futile search for land.

"Why am I even doing this?" Luffy asked himself.

After a few minutes of searching, Luffy gave up. He was just about to make his way back down, when the sound of thunder rang out. Luffy turned, only to see black clouds moving in fast…too fast.

"Whoa…it was just fine a minuet ago…" Luffy commented to himself.

Back on deck, the rest of the crew had taken notice of the sudden change in weather. Chopper, the ships doctor, was especially worried.

"Th-This doesn't look too good guys…" Chopper stammered.

"I don't get it; it was so nice a second ago, what happened?" Nami said in confusion.

"I'll go tell Sanji, Zorro, and Robin…" Ussop said before disappearing inside the ship.

Luffy jumped down and grabbed onto a crossbeam on the way down. His arms acted as a bungee cord as it slowed down his descent. When Luffy reach the safety of the deck, he let go, and his arms snapped back into place like a whip.

Nami, Luffy, and Chopper looked out into the sea, only to spot that the black clouds began to swirl around fast.

"Is it a cyclone!?" Chopper cried frantically.

"No…there's no wind…which makes this even stranger…" Nami pointed out.

The swirling clouds began to suddenly open up, acting as some kind of portal. Out of the gap in the clouds came a swarm of ravens, which headed straight for the Going Merry! Ussop, Sanji, Zorro, and Robin came out on deck just in time to see the ravens coming at them.

"I hate birds…" Sanji groaned.

Everyone got into a fighting position, ready to fend off the angry birds. As the birds flew at them, they suddenly stopped and landed on the deck. Upon closer inspection, the birds had blood red eyes, and their feathers seemed to be a mix of black and dark purple.

The ravens suddenly bunched together in a group huddle. Suddenly without warning, they suddenly began to melt into a black puddle! The sight made the crew cringe in disgust.

"Ewwww, and I thought bird droppings were bad…" Ussop shuddered/

Suddenly something began to slowly rise out of the puddle. It was a black figure which seemed to have the shape of a man. When the figure was in full view, the puddle vanished, and the darkness on the being faded away, to reveal a tall man standing before them.

The man bore a black and purple cloak which covered most of his body. His eyes were hidden by a dark blue, masquerade mask, which seemed to have tentacles that wrapped around his head, keeping it in place. His hair was a mix of red and black, in a spiked design that flowed back like flames in the wind.

After much silence, Zorro finally spoke up.

"Who are you??" Zorro asked angrily.

The man looked at the group and smiled an evil smile.

"_My name is of no importance._" He said.

"What do you want??" Nami stepped in.

"_I seek the one you call 'Monkey D. Luffy'…_" He replied calmly. "_Relinquish him to me, and your deaths shall be quick and painless_"

That was the sign that their visitor wasn't friendly at all. The crew got into fighting position, ready to take on this strange newcomer.

"You'll have to go thru US first!" Zorro glared, taking out his blades.

"And we vastly outnumber you…" Robin pointed out.

The man looked over the pirate crew before up roaring in laughter.

"What's so funny?" Luffy asked.

The man finally stopped laughing and flashed another evil smile.

"_While it is true you outnumber me, that is something can easily be remedied…_"

With that said, the man snapped his fingers, and the wind began to pick up. A powerful gale of wind blasted across the deck of the Going Merry, which seemed to effect all but Luffy.

The clouds above them began to open up, and a massive swirling vortex was seen. Without warning, the wind increased in strength, and all but Luffy was dragged off the deck and towards the vortex.

"LUFFY!!!!!!!!" The crew screamed as one by one they were sucked inside the vortex.

Luffy gaped in awe and fear as he watched his friends, and the vortex disappear. The man bellowed in laughter as Luffy dropped to his knees, the realization that his friends were gone began to set in. As the man's laughter died down, Luffy's anger began to flair up.

"_Well, now that THAT little matter is settled, let's get down to business…_" The man smirked.

Luffy stood back up again, and placed his straw hat on his head. He turned to face the man, with an enraged look on his face. One thing to learn when on the Grand Line, was to never. EVER. Get on Monkey D. Luffy's bad side.

"Bring, my friends back, **NOW**!!!" Luffy ordered angrily.

"_Your friends, are in my dominion now. You'll never see them again._" The man replied coolly. "_But rest assured, you won't feel any sadness, for you will be dead._"

Luffy had had enough of listening to him talk. Luffy stretched his fist way far back until it was off the ship completely.

"**GUM GUM PISTOL!!!**"

Luffy suddenly launched his fist forward like a rocket as it gained speed thru the air. His fist shot out forward to hit the man, but Luffy was shocked to see that he vanished!

"_Brilliantly strong attack, though horribly inaccurate…_" The man said from behind.

Luffy snapped his arm back into place and turned, only to see the same man from before grinning at him. Luffy sneered as he stretched both arms back, and balled his hands up into a fist.

"**GUM GUM BAZOOKA!!!**"

Luffy then shot both his fist forwards and slammed into the man's chest at full force. The man simply grinned evilly as Luffy's fists harmlessly bounced off his chest.

"WHAT!? You gotta be kidding me!!" Luffy cried. "What are you invincible!?"

The man smirked and suddenly shot out his hand, grabbing Luffy by his throat and lifting the rubber boy to eye level.

"_Precisely…_" He hissed.

The man's sleeve rolled down to reveal the hand clutching his throat was a monstrous, claw-like appendage. Luffy tried to stretch his neck and head butt him, but for some reason his powers weren't working.

"_This claw here renders any and all magical abilities useless, so long as I'm touching the user…_" The man explained.

Luffy gasped for air as he tried to pry the man's claw-like hand off his neck.

"What…do you want…with me?!" Luffy gasped.

"_The power of the Gum Gum fruit… One of the most powerful of the devil fruit. Its power needs to be in more capable hands than in the hands of a wannabe pirate, wouldn't you agree?_" The man smirked.

With that the man's claw began to glow a vibrant red. Luffy struggled and squirmed as he felt the life being sucked out of his very body. As Luffy lost consciousness due to the lack of air, the clouds opened up again, this time however, from it came a bright and powerful light.

The man saw the light and cringed, dropping Luffy in the process. Luffy dropped do the deck with a THUD and laid there unmoving. His body was then slowly dragged across the deck by an invisible force and towards the light. As Luffy was dragged into the light's path, the man tried to reach in and grab him. But the moment his hand entered the light beam's path, his hand instantly burned and he drew back.

The man only watched as Luffy's knocked out body disappeared into the light. As Luffy vanished from sight, the light faded and the clouds closed up again. The man growled before slamming his claw into the mast.

"_DAMN THOSE MEDDLING ANCIENTS!!!_" He cursed into the sky.

The man slowly slid his fist off the mast and walked towards the railing of the ship. He held his hand out and a dark portal appeared. Before he entered however, he turned back up at the sky and sneered.

"_Hear me oh 'wise' Ancients. You may have gathered the four noble hearts, but this is far from over! I WILL take this universe in the name of "Master Hellclaw"!_"

With that the man known as "Hellclaw" sneered up at the sky a final time before disappearing into the portal to regions beyond.

Though neither Luffy nor Hellclaw knew it at the time, this was the start of a grand adventure.


	2. Gathering of Heroes

**Chapter 2: Gathering of Hero's**

Luffy lay sprawled out across a stone floor, still knocked out from his encounter with Hellclaw. As he lay there, a hooded figure approached him.

"The Stretching Outlaw has arrived safely…" The hooded man murmured.

"Yeah, Yeah, that's all fine and dandy, but can you PLEASE tell us what's going on now!?" An arrogant, impatient voice rang out from behind.

"Patience young hero…" The hooded man replied. "You shall get your answers shortly.

The man held his hand out over Luffy's body, and a blue glow began to emit from it.

"Stretching Outlaw…awaken!" The hooded man commanded.

A blue veil of energy was cast over Luffy's body. As it absorbed into him, he slowly stirred before weakly opening his eyes.

"Oh…my head…" He groaned.

His vision was blurred up a bit as he sat up. When his vision finally cleared up, he noticed he was sitting in a strange, temple like room.

"You are awake…" the hooded man said.

Luffy turned to the man, and scratched his head in confusion.

"Who are you? Where's that dude with the claw?" He asked.

"Your questions shall be answered shortly, but for now, please, go and join your fellow heroes." The hooded man replied.

"Heroes?"

Luffy looked over the man's shoulder only to see a rather odd looking group standing there. Luffy weakly stood up and approached the group. The first of them was a male and was taller than the rest. He had long white hair which went to his shoulders and down his back. He wore a large red, loose fitting jacket which was tucked into his equally red and large pants. He wore no shoes and bore a strange purple necklace around his neck. Though what stuck out the most was a pair of what seemed to be ears sticking out of his head.

"What the hell are YOU looking at?" He sneered at Luffy.

Luffy then turned his sights on the second of the group. This one was also male and wore a bright orange and blue jacket, as well as matching pants and sandals. He had spiky yellow hair and a metal headband with a strange symbol across his forehead. He seemed to be Luffy's height and looked to be around maybe 14 or so

"Hey…" The boy said weakly.

Luffy then turned his sights on the last of the group. This one was a girl and seemed to be the youngest of them all. She had short length brown hair, and wore a strange grey dress and skirt that went down to her hips. A white cape flapped down behind her, and long grey boots donned her legs that went up to her knees. Luffy also couldn't help but notice a strange, star-like necklace around her neck.

"Hello…" The girl said nervously.

Luffy looked over the three and shrugged.

"What are we all doing here?" Luffy asked.

"That's what _I _wanna know!" The tall one yelled to the hooded man.

"Yeah! We've been waiting here for hours!" The boy called. "We want answers!"

The hooded man then walked past the four and stood up on a stone platform. Behind him was a series of hieroglyphic like images that were illuminated by magic. Out of the shadows, came more people garbed in hoods. They stood alongside the one standing on the platform and raised their hands, while mumbling something in an ancient language.

"Very well, your questions shall be answered…" The man said.

"It's about damn time…" The tall one mumbled angrily to himself.

The girl smacked his arm angrily and gave him a scolding look.

"Show some respect!" She scolded.

The tall one shot the girl a death glare before rudely turning away and facing the hooded figure.

The hooded figure then pointed to Luffy.

"The stretching outlaw…" he murmured.

He then pointed to the tall one.

"The canine hero…"

He then pointed to the boy.

"The boy who bears nine-tails…"

He then pointed to the girl.

"And the Mistress of the Cards… All four of you have been brought together for a reason…" The hooded man stated. "Please, state your true names…"

Luffy took a step forward and removed his hat.

"I'm Luffy! Monkey D. Luffy!" He introduced.

The boy took a step forward and raised a fist into the air.

"I'm Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki!" He shouted proudly.

The girl took a step forward and bowed respectfully.

"I'm Sakura, Sakura Kinomoto!" She said softly.

The tall one didn't bother to step forward; he simply crossed his arms and huffed.

"Inuyasha…" He said inaudibly.

"Luffy, Naruto, Sakura, and Inuyasha…." The hooded man sighed. "You four have something in common; tell me, what is the last thing you remember before being brought here?"

"What I remember? What I remember was this creep in a mask attacked me, and got took my friends!!" Naruto cried angrily.

Luffy turned to Naruto in shock.

"Hey! That happened to me too!" He added.

"Me too!" Sakura cried.

"Yeah…Same here…" Inuyasha said as he scratched his chin.

"We've all been attacked by the same guy!" Sakura sad, putting two and two together.

Inuyasha then angrily turned to the hooded man.

"Alright you! Start explaining! Why are we here?? And what's with the guy in the mask??" Inuyasha yelled.

The hooded man didn't seem to be at all effected by Inuyasha's anger.

"The man is known only as 'Hellclaw'…" the hooded man explained. "Like we, the ancients, Hellclaw has been around for thousands of eons. Long ago, we trapped him in another universe, though we knew that one day he would escape… and that day has come…"

"Should have used a better lock…" Naruto commented.

"We knew he would return, and in preparation of this, we the ancients have created the world that you stand in right now, so that you may come here and fulfill your purpose…" The hooded man continued.

Everyone jumped back in shock a bit.

"Wait, you mean we're in another world!?" Luffy cried.

The hooded man nodded and continued. "In this world, you will find four large torches. You must seek out each torch and light them individually using the powers that make you who you are… When all four are lit, the gateway to his domain will open up, and you will be able to face him."

"Whoa, Whoa, hold on a second!" Inuyasha interrupted. "If what you're saying about this "Hellclaw" is true, than what's stopping him from waltzing right in here and attacking??"

"This world is protected by a barrier created by us…" the hooded man explained. "Although he himself cannot enter this world, he _can _send in his creatures after you…"

"Ok, let me see if I got this straight." Naruto interrupted. "We have to travel across this world, find these torches, light them, and then take on this 'Hellclaw' guy?"

The hooded man simply nodded. Naruto then put on a wide smirk and smacked his fist into his palm.

"Sounds like challenge! I'm in!!" He declared.

"If I can save my friends, then I'm in too!" Sakura smiled.

"Don't forget me!" Luffy said.

"I suppose I'm in too, if it gives me a chance to put this 'Hellclaw' in his place!" Inuyasha added.

"Excellent!" The hooded man cheered. "Your path is set! You must unite your powers not as individuals, but as one. Only THEN, can you succeed in your journey…"

"But…what would happen if we don't?" Sakura asked.

The hooded man then lowered his head.

"Then…the universe, as well as the lives of your friends, are doomed…"

The four gave each other unnerving looks before composing themselves.

"Then I guess we're off then…" Naruto shrugged.

"But where do we find the torches?" Luffy asked.

"Your hearts know where to go…" The hooded man replied.

The four put their hands on their hearts, trying to see if they feel anything. The four looked at each other and shrugged. They then turned to the hallway behind them which led out of the temple.

"Well…let's do this I suppose…" Inuyasha sighed.

With that, the four heroes began to walk down the hallway and towards their big adventure.

"Goodbye! And thank you!" Luffy called before catching up with the others.

The hooded man sighed and lowered his head.

"Oh heroes of the worlds…please…for all of us….succeed and fulfill your destiny…"


	3. Coming together

**Chapter 3: Coming together**

As the four stepped outside, they gaped at what lay before them. Before them was a massive, wide open plain, with a forest surrounding the plain from all sides. Luffy took his hat off and let hang from his neck on his back.

"Well, looks like the four of us have a long journey ahead of us…" Luffy commented.

"Correction: the THREE of you have a long journey…" Inuyasha cut in.

Sakura, Naruto, and Luffy turned to Inuyasha in confusion.

"Huh?" Sakura asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that _I'm_ out of here!" Inuyasha glared.

With that, Inuyasha took off running in a random direction. The others gaped and ran after him.

"Your gonna leave your friends to die!?" Naruto cried.

Inuyasha stopped running and turned to face them.

"Oh don't worry, I'm gonna rescue MY friends!" Inuyasha sneered. "Let me make something clear to you, I'm in no way interested in playing tag-along with you three kids!"

The three glared daggers as they approached Inuyasha angrily.

"Well let me make something clear to YOU! You're not the only one who has someone to rescue. We're in this together, no matter how stubborn you're going to be!" Sakura pointed out.

"Sakura is right! You're not the only one who's laying their life on the line! We all are!" Luffy added.

"Didn't you hear those guys? We need to work together to beat this 'Hellclaw' guy!" Naruto finished.

"BAH! What do those old guys know anyhow?" Inuyasha asked sarcastically.

"How can you say such a thing??" Sakura asked bewildered.

"Listen you, I'm not here to be preached at by you guys! I'm only responsible for one person, Me, Myself, and Nobody!" Inuyasha yelled back.

With that, Inuyasha began running off again…until Naruto called out to him.

"If that's true, then why are you even bothering to try and save your friends??" Naruto yelled.

Inuyasha grinded to a halt at the entrance of the forest as Naruto and the others approached.

"You remind me an awful lot of someone I know, someone I'm trying to save!" Naruto said as he approached. "If you claim to need no one, why are you bothering to save your friends huh!?"

Inuyasha was silent for a moment before angrily turning to Naruto.

"Their special to me, Ok!? Are you satisfied!?!?" Inuyasha yelled.

"Our friends are special to us too!" Luffy added.

"The ancients said that 'We must unite our powers as one'! Meaning we HAVE to work together…"

"Tell me something, when you tried to fight off Hellclaw, did your attacks work against him?" Luffy asked.

Inuyasha looked shocked for a moment, before sighing and answering.

"No…." He answered while gritting his teeth.

"Hey…neither did mine!!" Naruto cried.

"Me neither!!" Sakura added.

"Same here, which proves that we're meant to team up and stop him!" Luffy pointed out.

"Face it Inuyasha, you need us, and we need you…" Sakura said.

"So what's it gonna be? Are we gonna have to drag you every step of the way? Or are we gonna co-operate?" Naruto asked.

Inuyasha sighed and closed his eyes. To the others it looked like he was thinking, but in reality, he was channeling his demon senses. Inuyasha was in fact, a half-demon being, who longed to be a full demon. Inuyasha could sense there was great power within those three, and he knew they brought up a point. He didn't want to accept it, but he knew that he needed these three if he wanted any chance at seeing his friends again.

Sighing again, Inuyasha opened his eyes and took a step forward.

"I just KNOW I'm gonna regret this…" He groaned.

The three cheered while Inuyasha just rolled his eyes.

"It's settled then! We're a team!" Naruto announced.

"Yeah, Yeah…" Inuyasha said, exasperated. "Well, since you three seem to know everything, which way to the first torch?"

The three thought for a bit before Naruto pointed across the field towards the far end, and into the forest there.

"My gut says to go this way…" He said.

"Hey…me too…" Luffy added.

"Heh…same here…" Inuyasha said.

"I guess that's what they meant about, 'Our heart knows where to go'!" Sakura suggested.

Naruto then ran in front and pointed towards the forest.

"Well then, let's get going already!" Naruto cried.

Naruto then took off in front, followed by Sakura, Luffy, and Inuyasha. The site of the four heroes racing across the plain towards their grand adventure was a sight to behold.

"Alright Hellclaw, you better watch your back!" Inuyasha growled as he ran after the others.

"Yeah! Because we're on our way!!" Luffy cried out to the sky.

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But while the four heroes began their journey, in a far off universe, in a dark world, in an even darker castle, sat Hellclaw at his throne. From a view screen he could watch the events of the four heroes unfold. Hellclaw slammed his clawed hand against his armrest in anger.

"_Those meddling ancients!_" Hellclaw cursed. "_They have gathered the four heroes and has sent them to vanquish me."_

"Surely, my lord is not afraid of four children," a male voice spoke, with a tone that was both polite and mocking.

Hellclaw turned and stared at a tall man with long blonde hair. He wore a white robe and had large white feathered wings sprouting from his back.

"_I fear nothing, Krad,_" Hellclaw sneered at him. "_But I made the mistake of underestimating my enemies once, and I will not do it again._"

"Well then, why not go there and dispose of them yourself?"

"_Because the ancients sealed that world, preventing me from entering it._"

Krad simply scratched his chin. "Quite the predicament."

Hellclaw glared at him as an evil smirk formed upon his lips. "_Indeed. But that does not stop those who serve me._"

Krad returned the smile as he understood his master's words. "I understand, my liege. I shall send those who are loyal to you."

And with that, Krad flew out the open window, while Hellclaw returned to the view screen.

"_So, foolish heroes, you think you can best me? ME? The master of all darkness?? Well then, I accept your challenge…_" Hellclaw smirked. "_Go ahead, have your fun, try and save your pathetic friends, try and stop me. In the end, reality will only come crashing down on your miserable heads!_"

Hellclaw the walked across his throne room and down a series of stairs, before arriving in a dark room, where a series of demonic looking cages hung from the ceiling. Inside one of them was Luffy's friends, who were still knocked out. Occupying the other cages where Sakura, Naruto, and Inuyasha's friends, who were also out like a light.

Hellclaw looked and smirked at the sight of his prisoners.

"_And besides, if worse comes to worse, I have the upper hand… their friends…_"


	4. Heroes Power

**Chapter 4: Heroes Power**

As the sun raised high in the sky, the four heroes made their way thru the beautiful forest. The four made their way across a log which hung over a rippling stream, and continued on, after about maybe an hour of solid walking, the quartet of heroes decided to take small break in a patch of grass by some trees.

"This forest…is so beautiful…" Sakura sighed.

"Yeah, almost makes one forget what a life-endangering mission we have..." Inuyasha added with a hint of sarcasm.

Sakura just glared back at the half-demon angrily before sighing again and going back to observing the forest.

"Hey Luffy, something's been bugging me…" Naruto said suddenly.

"Oh?' Luffy said, turning to Naruto. "What's that?"

"Why did that ancient dude call you 'The stretching outlaw'?" Naruto asked, placing his arms behind his head.

Luffy smirked and suddenly stood up. The team then looked up at Luffy who was grinning widely.

"Well for one, where I come from, I'm a pirate!" Luffy smiled.

"YOU? A pirate?" Inuyasha asked, arching a brow. "Now I've heard everything…"

"Well, that explains the outlaw part…" Naruto said. "But what about the stretching?"

Luffy smirked again before suddenly stretching his arms way up high. The remaining three simply gaped in pure shock.

"How…in the name of all that is sane…" Inuyasha gaped.

"Is that possible??" Sakura finished, gaping as well.

Luffy snapped his arms back into place and stretched his neck out, coiling his head around a tree like a snake.

"I ate the Gum-Gum fruit got special powers!" Luffy explained. "Where I come from, we have cursed fruits scattered all around the world, whoever eats one gains a special power, for me it gave me my power to stretch!"

Luffy's neck then spun around the tree before snapping back into place. Naruto and Sakura clapped excitedly, while Inuyasha pretended not to be interested, when in fact he was.

"Feh, not bad I guess…" Inuyasha muttered.

Luffy then sat back on the ground and looked at Naruto.

"What about you Naruto? What can you do?" Luffy asked.

It was now Naruto's turn to shine. He stood up and smiled widely before striking a fighting pose.

"Well, where I come from, I'M a top ninja!!" Naruto proclaimed proudly.

"I stand corrected…NOW I've heard everything!" Inuyasha cut in.

Sakura smacked Inuyasha's arm and shushed him. Inuyasha just groaned and sat their sulking.

"I'm an excellent fighter!" Naruto said, punching the air a few times. "I'm also the master of quite a few Jutsu's!"

"Jutsu? What's that?" Sakura asked

"Jutsu's are special tactics that only ninja like myself can perform!" Naruto explained. "Here, I'll show you…"

Naruto then formed his hand into a strange hang sign before shouting.

"**SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!**"

With that, several puffs of smoke began to appear behind him, and in a matter of seconds. There were 10 clones of Naruto standing there, grinning.

"Told ya I was good!" Naruto and the clones said simultaneously.

Luffy and Sakura clapped and cheered, while Inuyasha pretended to be unimpressed.

"Great…all we need, more of you…" Inuyasha scoffed.

All the clones glared at Inuyasha before vanishing in a puff of smoke, leaving only the real Naruto behind.

"Oh yeah? Well what about you Mr. Big-shot? What can YOU do??" Naruto angrily asked.

Inuyasha smirked and stood up proudly.

"I so happen to be a very powerful half-demon!" He declared proudly.

"You're a demon?" Luffy asked. "You don't look like one…"

"Yeah, Demons are terrifying and fear inducing…" Naruto added. "You don't look that scary.

Inuyasha suddenly put on an exasperated look before hunching over.

"I SAID I was a HALF-demon!" Inuyasha repeated. "Where I come from, I'm still working on the whole 'Full-Demon' thing…"

Inuyasha sat back down, feeling slightly dejected. All attention then fell on Sakura.

"What about you Sakura? What can you do?" Luffy asked.

Sakura smiled and reached for her bag (which she had with her when she arrived at the temple).

"Well, you see...I--"

Sakura stopped herself as she noticed what she was looking for wasn't there.

"HUH!? Where did they go!? They were right there and--"

Sakura suddenly saw Naruto, thumbing thru some very unusual looking cards.

"What the heck are these things? Rain, Wind, Shadow, Wood, Sword, Thunder, Power, Sleep? What kind of cards are these??" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

Naruto didn't get his answer as Sakura snatched the whole deck of cards from his hands and stuffed them back in her bag.

"NARUTO!" She yelled. "Why did you go thru my bag!?"

"I didn't! When I stood up, your bag tipped over, and out came these funny looking cards. So I thought I'd take a look…" Naruto explained.

"You could've at LEAST asked!" Sakura glared.

"But, why are those cards so important? They look like regular old cards to me…" Inuyasha commented.

Sakura responded by holding up a card which had the image of a beautiful forest maiden, under it, it had the words "The Wood" written on it.

"Each one of these cards contains a special power that only me 'The Card Captor' can control and use." Sakura explained. "Their my greatest tool, next to my Star Wand…"

Sakura then showed off her odd star shaped necklace. Inuyasha was actually interested this time, because his demon senses could pick up on the energy from the necklace and cards. But it was at that moment that something else caught onto Inuyasha's senses.

His ears suddenly perked up as he stood and looked around.

"Huh? What's wrong Inuyasha?" Sakura asked.

"I sense something…" Inuyasha said quietly. "Something…dark…"

At that moment, everyone stood up, alarmed.

"HUH?? Is it Hellclaw?" Naruto asked.

"No, but it's powerful…and close too…" Inuyasha said as he closed his eyes, trying to figure out it's exact source.

After a moment of silence, he opened his eyes and pointed towards western end of the forest.

"That way…" Inuyasha said.

With that, the team took off towards the source of the darkness, with Inuyasha at the lead.

"Good thing too, we were heading this way anyway…" Sakura commented as they ran.

After much running the four came to an open field, where only more forest surrounded the area. The team walked forward a bit before spotting a figure in the middle of the plain.

"It's him!" Inuyasha cried. "It's coming from him!"

The four ran up to the figure, before stopping a good distance away and getting into a fighters stance.

"YOU!" Inuyasha cried.

The figure turned to reveal none other than Krad himself.

"Ah, I've been expecting you four…" He said coolly.

"And who are you?" Naruto asked, fists up ready to fight.

"The call me, Krad…" He introduced. "I am a humble servant of the supreme one, or, as you call him, Hellclaw"

The four growled and prepared to battle.

"Well any friend of Hellclaw is no friend of ours!" Luffy cried.

"Tsk, Tsk, so rude…" Krad said in a scolding voice. "Perhaps you'd rather speak with my friends instead?"

With that, Krad spread his wings out wide. His feathers began to glow, and shoot out like bullets. Over a thousand feathers landed harmlessly on the ground as more feathers instantly grew back on Krad's wings.

"That it?" Luffy asked. "That's all?"

Suddenly the wings on the ground before them began to black. They suddenly began to grow in size, and change shape.

"I don't think so Luffy…" Naruto gulped.

They soon began to take the shape of demonic creatures, with long dark horns and razor sharp fangs. They stood on all fours like dogs and sat there growling at the four heroes.

"Let's see… over a thousand demonic creatures against three guys and a girl who just met…" Luffy said.

"I love the odds…" Inuyasha groaned with a hint of sarcasm.

Inuyasha then reached for his scabbard and pulled out his sword, to reveal the blade was three times the size of the scabbard!

"How is that possible?!" Sakura cried in shock.

Inuyasha grinned proudly at his sword.

"You like? It's called the Tetsusaiga, and I've won many victories with it…" Inuyasha said with pride. "And this'll be one more notch on the belt!"

Sakura nodded and looked towards the demons and held her necklace tightly in her hands and closed her eyes and focused. Suddenly a magic seal of some sort appeared at her feet as she shouted an incantation.

"_Key of the Star, With powers burning bright! Reveal the staff And shine your light! Release the staff into my sight!_" She shouted.

Suddenly her necklace underwent a startling transformation, and morphed into a long pink staff with a circle incasing a golden star at the top, and two miniature wings along the sides of the circle.

"Ah, the Star Key, if only it were in more capable hands than a little girl!" Krad mocked.

Sakura just growled angrily. Krad then flew into the air and snapped his fingers. With that the demonic creatures ran full speed towards the group.

"CHARGE!!!" Naruto screamed as he ran towards the demonic hoard.

Inuyasha, Luffy, and Sakura followed suit behind him, as they prepared for a very tough battle.


	5. The Power of Four

**Chapter 5: The Power of Four**

The sounds of battle rang out in the sky as the four heroes's clashed valiantly against the demonic hoard. Krad just simply watched with interest from the sky.

"_Well now, let's see how the legendary four operate in battle…_" Krad thought to himself.

Down bellow in the heat of battle, Luffy was having no trouble at all keeping his foes a good distance away

"**GUM GUM PISTOL!!!**"

Luffy shot his fist forward, sending three of the creatures into the air, where they exploded into black dust. One came up behind him and bit him in the leg.

Luffy screamed in pain and flung his leg around attempting to get the creature off him. When he finally shook the creature off, he had an idea. After launching a few more punches to keep the creatures back he jumped backwards and landed on one foot. He then stretched his unused leg out far, ready to strike

"**GUM GUM WHIP!!!"**

Luffy then performed a sweeping roundhouse kick with his stretched out leg, catching at least 20 or 30 of the creatures in his kick. As Luffy snapped his leg back into place, the creatures exploded into black dust, and Luffy ran off to fight more of them.

Inuyasha hacked and slashed his way thru the monsters, usually killing 5 or 10 in one blow, but they all swarmed at him at once, making it impossible to use any of his special attacks.

"Dammit! Their too fast, I can't get enough distance to use Adamant Barrage!" Inuyasha cried as one bit his arm.

Suddenly, something small and sharp flew thru the air, piercing the skin of one of the creatures; Inuyasha looked, only to see 14 Naruto Shadow Clones in the air, launching Kunai's at the creatures that swarmed him. All 14 Kunai's met their mark and Inuyasha was able to get rid of the rest.

"Thanks I guess…" Inuyasha said, catching his breath.

The clones just gave thumbs up before racing off to fight more creatures. Inuyasha gripped his blade as he saw a group of 'em advancing towards Luffy. With a smirk, Inuyasha jumped backwards and slammed his blade on the ground.

"**ADAMENT BARRAGE!!!**"

The blast sent 100 razor sharp adamant shards flying towards the creatures, nailing everyone dead on. Luffy simply waved to Inuyasha in thanks, who just smirked.

Meanwhile, Sakura ran for her life as about 20 of the creatures chased after her.

"This isn't good! I gotta summon a card fast!" she said to herself.

She reached for one of her cards and was relieved to see that she had picked the ever useful 'Sword' card.

"_I call upon the power of my star! Ancient forces near and far! Sword Card Transform all your might! And draw your power from my light!_" Sakura chanted out loud.

Sakura suddenly threw the card in front of her and slammed it with her staff as she ran. Her staff suddenly transformed into an elegant and deadly sword, and gave her the powers of a master swordsman.

Sakura grinned as she turned and ran towards the monsters, skillfully hacking and slashing her way thru them, with all the skill and grace of a samurai-warrior.

"Out of my way!" She called as she stabbed thru one.

After Sakura sliced her way thru the final creature, she smiled briefly at her handiwork. Though that smile was short lived as about 10 more creatures came up from behind and tackled her to the ground.

"GET OFF ME!!!" Sakura cried.

Sakura reached for another card and was relieved when she saw that she had picked the Float Card. Sakura thru the card down ion front of her and slammed it with her staff.

"Float! Get these things off me!!" Sakura commanded.

Suddenly the creatures on top of her began to slowly rise into the air. When the last of the creatures were off her, she got up, and summoned the sword card again. Her staff turned back into a sword as she stabbed the ones in the air one by one until none remained.

Sakura then looked around the battlefield, the team seemed to have the upper hand, but there were still a large amount of the creatures to beat, and she could see the others were beginning to wear out.

"_This isn't good!_" She thought to herself. "_We need to find some way to work together in this, but how??_"

Sakura then looked to the right, and saw Luffy suddenly inflate himself like a balloon! He then transferred all the air in his body, into his arm, making his fist giant. Luffy shot his massive fist forwards and rocketed 40 of the creatures into the sky.

This suddenly gave Sakura an idea, a risky plan, but it was worth a shot.

"LUFFY!!" She called as she ran over to him. "You can inflate as well?"

Luffy just smiled and nodded. "Uh-huh!"

"How much of your body can you inflate?" Sakura asked.

"Uhhhh…My whole body…" Luffy answered a bit confused.

Sakura smiled, this was just the answer she was looking for, and she then turned to the side and shouted.

"INUYASHA! NARUTO! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME LISTEN CAREFULLY!" Sakura shouted. "I need you two to herd whatever's left of these things into the middle of the field!!!"

Fortunately, the two heard her command from the distance.

"What is she up too?" Inuyasha asked himself. "Oh well, she better know what she's doing!!"

"Herd 'em to the center eh?" Naruto smirked as he summoned more clones "I'm all over it!!"

Luffy and Sakura watched as Inuyasha and Naruto began to follow her instructions, Sakura smiled, her plan was coming together.

"What about me? What do I do?" Luffy asked.

"Luffy, come with me!" Sakura called as she started to run towards a hill. Luffy followed suit behind, as Krad simply watched, eager to see what they had up their sleeves.

"_Now this is interesting…What is the young Card Captor up too?_" Krad thought to himself.

Luffy and Sakura reached the hill, and Sakura ordered Luffy to stand at the top of the hill, while she went back a little bit.

"Ok Luffy, listen closely. When I say now, inflate yourself as big as you can!!" Sakura said. "Got that?"

Luffy looked back at her and gave a thumbs up. Sakura watched from the hill, and saw that Inuyasha and Naruto succeeded in rounding them up in the center. Naruto's clones stood around the perimeter, making sure none of them escaped.

"We got 'em Sakura!!!" Naruto and his clones called.

Sakura waved before turning to Luffy.

"Luffy! Now!!" Sakura cried.

Luffy nodded and began to slowly inhale air; his body began to expand widely as he sucked up air. Soon, his body took on the shape of a giant human boulder, with Luffy barely able to stand.

It didn't take long for Inuyasha to figure out what Sakura intended to do.

"Good idea!" He smirked. "Though I think he's a little too heavy to push!!"

Sakura then held up one of her cards, which read 'The Windy'

"Say hello to my best card! The Windy!" Sakura shouted.

She then tossed the card in front of her, and it began to glow as Sakura twirled her staff like a baton.

"_I call upon the power of my star! Ancient forces near and far! Windy Card Transform all your might! And draw your power from my light!_" Sakura chanted.

Sakura then held her staff into the air and the star began to spin and the wings expanded as the staff unlocked the cards power.

"Windy Card! Use your strongest winds, and push Luffy with all your might!" Sakura commanded.

Suddenly magic began to pour out of the card as a maiden made of pure wind appeared from the card. She flew at Luffy at high speed and blasted a powerful Gale at the Straw Hat Pirate, sending him rolling down the hill at an inhuman speed.

Naruto and Inuyasha wisely jumped out of the way as Luffy came by, and crushed all the monster they herded with his girth.

"Oh my…" Krad muttered, actually impressed by their teamwork.

With the last monster crushed under Luffy's massive body, the team cheered as Luffy slowly deflated himself back to normal.

"Nice one Sakura!! You too Luffy!" Naruto cheered.

"Heh, guess you kids aren't so bad after all…" Inuyasha smirked to himself.

The team's happy cheers and whoops of joy were suddenly interrupted by the sound of clapping. They turned only to see Krad lowering himself to the ground while clapping slowly.

""Bravo! Bravo! Very entertaining! Impressive display! You're stronger than I gave you credit for." Krad complimented as he clapped.

Inuyasha growled as he whipped out the Tetsusaiga.

"Alright, pal. You've officially gotten on my last nerves. You're next!!" Inuyasha shouted.

"Settle down my demonic friend…" Krad said calmly. "If you are truly as strong as I think you are, then we'll definitely battle very soon. But for now, know this; Master Hellclaw will not rest until he sees you dead."

Luffy growled and took a step forward, while cracking his knuckles.

"Well tell your boss the feelings mutual!" Luffy growled.

"And tell him we're coming for him!" Naruto added.

Krad simply smirked at the four before flapping his wings, sending a powerful blast of wind at them, knocking them to the ground. When they got back up, he was already gone.

"Damn…" Inuyasha cursed. "I swear, I'll get that blonde freak at the end of my sword before this is over!"

"Well, at least we beat the monsters…" Luffy shrugged.

"Because we worked together" Sakura said. "This is what the Ancients meant about uniting our powers!"

"Yeah, but if this 'Krad' is what I think he is, I highly doubt this is over…" Naruto put in.

"He's right, we still gotta find the torches, and we have a long way to go…" Inuyasha pointed out.

The team decided their time was spent better traveling than talking. So after resting a bit, the team set off to find the first torch.

Elsewhere, Krad sat on a tree branch, reviewing the day's events in his mind.

"Those four…those four might actually prove to be an actual threat…which disturbs me…" Krad mumbled to himself.

Krad then sighed to himself before putting on an evil smile.

"Oh well, besides, this is only the beginning!" Krad smiled.


	6. Memories of Lost Friends

**Chapter 6: Memories of Friends**

In the Dark Universe, Hellclaw waited on his throne as Krad appeared and bowed.

"_Well?_" Hellclaw asked. "_What did you learn…_?"

"Those four are most impressive…" Krad replied. "They've already learned the value of teamwork. I dare say they may actually prove to be a threat…"

Hellclaw leaned back on his throne and thought a bit before replying.

"_Just go back, and keep your eyes on them._" Hellclaw responded. "_And attack when you see fit…_"

Krad nodded in understanding before spreading his wings and flying out of the open window.

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Back in the Ancient's World, the four had stopped for the night as the sun began to set. The four made a small campfire, while Inuyasha ran off to try and find food.

Sakura simply sprawled out on the ground in exhaustion from the battle they had just won.

"Ugh…What a day…" Sakura groaned.

Luffy sat down next to Sakura and removed his hat running his hand thru his hair.

"Well, ignoring the fact that we had to fend off over a thousand demonic creatures, it wasn't that bad…" Luffy shrugged.

"In case you forgot, we lost our friends…" Naruto grimly pointed out. "Not to mention we have no idea where we are, or have any clue if we'll ever see home again! Overall, I'd say it was a pretty rotten day…"

Luffy shot an agitated look at Naruto before sighing.

"I didn't forget, I'm trying to lighten things up…." Luffy said quietly. "How do you think I feel? Do you think that I don't care?"

Naruto and Luffy just stared at each other in silence, the tension was so thick, you could cut it with the Tetsusaiga. Sakura looked around nervously before finally saying something.

"Well, it wasn't ALL bad; I mean…we became friends and all, right?" Sakura said, trying to break the tension.

Luffy and Naruto apparently didn't hear her, as they just continued to stare at each other. At last, Inuyasha returned, carrying something in his hands.

"Hey… I'm back…" Inuyasha said, sitting down next to Sakura.

Luffy and Naruto finally snapped out of their little trance and looked at Inuyasha.

"Did you find anything?" Naruto asked.

Inuyasha then spilled a pile of wild berries and nuts down in front of him.

"Not much…just these…" Inuyasha said. "Nothing's really growing out here…"

Naruto reached over and popped a berry into his mouth; he swallowed it and shuddered, as it had a sour taste to it.

"Ugh…I'd kill for some ramen right now…" Naruto groaned.

Despite the sour and dry taste, the four dug in, glad to get at least SOME food in their system. As they ate, Sakura glanced over to Inuyasha and scooted closer to him. Inuyasha's demon senses instantly picked up on this and he glanced down at her.

"Yeah? What do you want?" He asked rudely.

Sakura suddenly leaned towards him, making Inuyasha very uncomfortable.

"Hey, what are you--"

Before Inuyasha could finish, Sakura reached out and groped his dog-like ears sticking out of his hair.

"Are these real??" She asked as she felt them.

Inuyasha just sighed in exasperation and weakly nodded. Luffy and Naruto snickered quietly to themselves. Sakura finally released his ears and looked at him confused.

"You're not mad?" Sakura asked.

"Let's just say, you're not the first to do that…" Inuyasha sighed.

Luffy looked up, the sky was pitch black. Luffy then spotted an odd looking Twin Moon in the sky. First there was a glowing crescent moon in front, and partially hidden behind it was a full moon. Luffy simply shrugged to himself and laid down on his back, putting his hat over his face.

"Its late we should probably get some sleep…" Luffy suggested. "We got a long way to go…"

"Wait, what if Krad or Hellclaw tries to attack us while we're asleep?" Sakura asked, taking a bite out of a berry.

Inuyasha then stood up, stretching his arms out.

"Don't worry, I'll stand guard…" He said.

The remaining three looked up at him, Sakura put on a worried look.

"Are you sure? We battled hard, you need your rest!" Sakura pointed out, worriedly.

"I'm fine, I'm a half-demon; I don't have to rest as much as you humans…" Inuyasha replied coldly.

"I _should _be taking offense to that, but I'm not…" Naruto said, laying down on the grass.

"Besides, I've been in battles MUCH worse than the one today…" Inuyasha added.

"But just the same, you need to rest!" Sakura insisted.

Inuyasha suddenly went wide eyed; it finally sank into his head that she actually cared about his well being. That fact reminded Inuyasha a lot about someone he knew, someone he cared for, someone he lost thanks to Hellclaw. Inuyasha suddenly began to get angry, angry that he had lost that person. He then turned to Sakura, with an angry look in his eyes.

"I _SAID _I'm fine!!" Inuyasha yelled. "Don't worry about me! I don't need sympathy from a little brat like you! Just go to sleep!!"

Sakura instantly shut up, and laid down on the grass, turning away from Inuyasha. Naruto sat up again and glared at the half-demon.

"Hey! Lay off! She was worried about!" Naruto yelled.

"I don't need any sympathy!" Inuyasha huffed. "Especially from you guys…"

Naruto sneered at Inuyasha before laying back down.

"I'll deal with you in the morning…" Naruto muttered to himself.

Inuyasha huffed and turned away, staring into the dark forest.

"_Stupid Kids…_" Inuyasha thought to himself.

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At around midnight, Sakura suddenly woke up, she looked around, the campfire was out, and Naruto and Luffy were out like a light.

She looked around thru the darkness rapidly, where was Inuyasha? After looking around some more, she spotted a shadow that was shaped like Inuyasha; he appeared to be sitting down.

"What's he doing all the way over there?" Sakura asked herself.

Having nothing better to do, Sakura got up and slowly approached the shadow.

Inuyasha was sitting on a cliff that overlooked the valley, which was illuminated by the Twin Moon. Inuyasha looked over the valley, while lost in deep thought, Naruto and Sakura's words buzzed in his skull.

"_Sakura…Why does she remind me of Kagome?_" Inuyasha thought to himself. "_Why would she even care about me?_"

Inuyasha's ears suddenly perked as he sensed a certain Card Captor approaching.

"Speaking of which…"

Inuyasha suddenly turned around, catching Sakura off guard.

"You don't have to try and hide; I can sense you coming a mile away!" Inuyasha called into the darkness.

Sakura jumped back a bit, before she reluctantly approached the half-demon and sitting next to him on the cliff.

"What are you doing up?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously.

"I, um… had a nightmare…" Sakura said.

Inuyasha just looked her over before turning his attention back to the valley again. The two sat there in silence, none daring to say a word. At last Inuyasha spoke up.

"Listen; about yelling at you before, I'm sorry…" He said quietly.

This was odd, considering that Inuyasha rarely apologized to anyone. Sakura looked at him and smiled.

"It's just that…You reminded me of someone I know…Someone I'm trying to save…" Inuyasha continued.

"From Hellclaw?" Sakura asked.

Inuyasha looked at Sakura and nodded. Sakura then curled her legs to her chest and sighed.

"I'm trying to save someone I care about from Hellclaw too…" She sighed.

Inuyasha then looked back toward the other two heroes, who were fast asleep.

"Apparently everyone is…" He commented.

Sakura nodded, she looked back at the others until Inuyasha placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Listen, You really need to get some sleep, I'm fine…" He said.

This time, Sakura didn't try and protest. She simply stood up and bowed before walking back over to the camp and laying back down. She looked over and saw Inuyasha still sitting there, lost in his thoughts.

Sakura simply smiled to herself before falling asleep.

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Ok Fanfiction nuts, before I get bombarded with messages of the same topic, let me put something out here, NO, there will be NO Inuyasha/Sakura pairings! I know this chap may give some of you the wrong idea, but believe me when I say they are just friends, NOTHING MORE!

Ahem, thank you for your time, enjoy the fic.


	7. Breakfast on the run

**Chapter 7: Breakfast on the run**

That morning, the team woke up as the sun rose (except Inuyasha who was up all night) Sakura yawned and stretched out. Naruto was on his feet instantly and smiling.

"MAN! My back feels GREAT! I should sleep outside more often!" Naruto cheered.

Sakura smiled at the young ninja and waved to Inuyasha as he approached.

"Good morning!" She smiled.

"What's so good about it?" Inuyasha said groggily.

Sakura could tell the lack of sleep got to him greatly, despite claiming to be alright.

"See, that's what you get for staying up all night!" Sakura scolded.

Inuyasha shot her a look that read that he was in no mood for her. Sakura wisely stopped, and then noticed that something, or rather, some ONE was missing.

"Hey? Where's Luffy?" Sakura asked.

Then as if on cue, they suddenly heard the words '**GUM GUM ROCKET!!!**' The three turned towards the forest in front of them, and saw the figure of Luffy rocket into the sky from the forest. They watched as Luffy then inflated himself in mid air, and bounce his way over to them before deflating and landing in front of them.

"Gooooood morning guys!" Luffy greeted cheerfully.

"And just where the hell have YOU been, stretch?" Inuyasha asked irritably.

Luffy smiled and held his hat out, inside was a pile of eggs.

"Just getting us some breakfast!" Luffy grinned widely.

The three's eyes suddenly lit up, the sight of something decent to eat was like the holy grail to them.

"_An omelet! A sweet, sweet omelet!_" Sakura daydreamed with a hungry look in her eyes.

"_Scrambled Eggs! Delicious Scrambled Eggs!_" Naruto daydreamed.

"_Now if only I had some noodles, then I could make egg flavored ramen!_" Inuyasha daydreamed.

"Hey, can anyone cook these?" Luffy asked.

Naruto raised his hand. Naruto had lived alone most of his life, so he was used to cooking for himself and others.

"Sure, I can do it!" Naruto smiled. "It'll be a little hard without a pan, but if I can find a flat rock or something, I could give it a shot!"

Luffy responded by stretching his arm out across the plain and into the forest. After a few seconds his arm snapped back into place, with a considerably large, flat rock in his hand.

"Here ya go!" Luffy smiled.

"How'd you know that was there?" Sakura asked.

"Tripped over it when I was in the forest…" Luffy said, showing a scraped knee to Sakura.

As Naruto tried to get the camp fire going again, Inuyasha couldn't help but notice odd looking marks on the eggs.

"Hey Straw Hat, where the hell did you find these eggs?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously. "They look a little odd…"

Luffy pointed back into the forest, while running his hand thru his hair.

"In the forest…" He replied.

"WHERE in the forest?" Inuyasha asked, arching a brow.

Luffy simply shrugged and stretched his back out, pointing once again towards the forest.

"It was the weirdest thing, I was looking for some fruit or something to eat, and while swing thru he trees, I found these eggs just lying there…" Luffy replied.

Naruto, Sakura, and Inuyasha suddenly gave him a look mixed with shock, annoyance, and exasperation.

"And, you just TOOK them??" Naruto asked, bewildered.

"Well duh, one mans trash is another man's toasted egg sandwich!" Luffy replied calmly.

"Stretch, did you ever stop to explore the possibility that those are BIRD eggs?!" Inuyasha yelled.

Luffy thought for a moment, then scratched his head before simply shrugging his shoulders and saying.

"Honestly, the thought never crossed my mind…"

Everyone suddenly fell backwards in exasperation at Luffy's lack of common sense.

"Luffy! You can't just go and steal bird eggs!!" Sakura cried.

"Relax theirs not that many eggs…" Luffy replied.

"Theirs over 50 eggs in this hat, how is THAT not a lot?" Naruto asked in shock.

"Oh come on guys!" Luffy cried, throwing his arms up in the air. "We're out in the wilderness, we need to survive somehow, and we can't just eat berries and nuts the whole time!"

The others began to mumble among themselves, as Luffy DID have a point.

"Besides, what are the odds of the birds finding us?" Luffy asked.

At that moment, all the trees in the forest shook as over a 100 angry birds suddenly shot out of the forest and towards the campsite.

"You HAD to ask, didn't you!?" Inuyasha yelled.

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The next thing they knew, the four heroes were running for their lives thru the forest with a swarm of angry birds chasing after them. With Luffy still clutching his egg filled hat in his hands.

"**LUFFY YOU IDIOT!!!!!**" The three screamed as they ran from the squawking birds.

The birds began to catch up and peck at their heads as they ran for cover.

"LUFFY! Drop your hat and let's go!!!" Naruto cried as she swatted a bird away with his Kunai.

"NO WAY! I NEVER leave the hat!!" Luffy cried back to him.

"Then just drop the damn eggs!!!!" Inuyasha screamed angrily.

"Pirates live by certain rules, one of which is FINDERS KEEPERS!!!" Luffy cried, refusing to give up his breakfast.

More and more birds began to catch up and peck their heads. The four heroes cried out in pain as the birds sharp beaks jabbed at their skulls.

"That's it, I'm gonna kill him!!" Inuyasha yelled.

"That's not gonna get these birds away from us!!!" Sakura cried back.

"I know! But it'll feel good!" Inuyasha cried back to her.

Luffy held his hat tightly as he swung his head from side to side, in a futile attempt to swat the birds.

"NO WAY! This is MY Egg Flambé!" Luffy cried. "Go find your own!!"

"DON'T PROVOKE THEM!!!!!!" The remaining three yelled.

As more and more birds caught up, the team was beginning to lose hope. Suddenly, without warning the birds suddenly flew off in a different direction, and giving up the chase.

"Huh?? Why'd they stop chasing us??" Naruto asked, arching a brow.

The four kept running as they saw the forest exit up ahead. As they tore out of the forest, they soon discovered why the birds stopped chasing them. For the four heroes ended up running right off the forest and straight off a cliff!

The four screamed as they fell off the cliff, as doom seemed to be at hand.

"EVERYONE!! GRAB ONTO MY LEGS!!" Luffy commanded.

No one wasted time as they latched onto Luffy's legs.

"Now hold on tight!!"

Luffy then shot his neck out, stretching it way up high, back up to the forest. He wrapped his head and neck along a thick tree branch and held on for dear life.

Luffy's rubber body acted like a human bungee cord, as his body stretched and the heroes descent began to slow down.

When the four were a safe distance from a ground, the four released. At that moment, Luffy's grip on the tree branch loosened, and his head and neck when spinning around the branch before shooting down the cliff to meet his body. His neck and head snapped back into place, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

"Is everyone ok…?" Luffy groaned.

"We're fine…" They said in unison.

Luffy sighed in relief, and stood up.

"So does this mean you're not mad anymore?" Luffy asked cheerfully.

Luffy's question was answered by a group death glare, causing him to cringe.

"Hey, look on the bright side…" Luffy cringed.

"WHAT bright side??" Inuyasha yelled.

"Well, those birds actually chased us in the right direction; we're now a lot closer to the torch since we ran all the way." Luffy pointed out.

The others had to admit Luffy was right, they WERE a lot closer.

"Heh, I guess your little accident did us a good turn…" Sakura said cheerfully.

"Yeah!" Luffy smiled. "And, there's ANOTHER reason to be happy!"

Luffy then proudly held his hat up, which STILL contained the stolen eggs that started the whole mess in the first place.

"I didn't lose a _single_ egg!" Luffy cheered triumphantly. "We can STILL have breakfast!!"

The three resumed glaring at the Straw Hat pirate with anger. Inuyasha then walked up to Luffy and snatched his hat away.

"You want your friggin eggs?" Inuyasha grinned mischievously.

He then quickly flipped it and slammed it down on Luffy's head, causing all the eggs to break and ooze all over Luffy's head.

"YOU GOT IT!!!" Inuyasha yelled.

As the eggs oozed all over Luffy's face, the remaining three heroes sighed in exasperation and proceeded in the direction of the torch. Luffy soon followed behind them, while stretching out his tongue and licking the egg off his face.

"Say, I taste pretty good!" Luffy called.

Luffy then ran after the others.

"Hey guys! Taste me!"

"**NO WAY LUFFY!!!!**" The three yelled at the Straw Hat Pirate.


	8. A look to the past

**Chapter 8: A look to the past**

The sun hung high in the middle of the sky, signaling the arrival of the afternoon. By now, the team had gotten over Luffy's little incident with the eggs (Though Inuyasha was still particularly miffed about it)

The team had stopped by a nearby river to get a drink, and for Luffy to wash the egg out of his hat (Though that didn't nearly stop him from eating some of it) Naruto watched in curiosity as Luffy made sure there was no speck of egg left in his hat. When he was absolutely sure the hat was clean he placed it proudly on his head and smiled widely.

"Ok, you hat's clean, can we go now?" Inuyasha asked impatiently.

Luffy looked over to him and nodded. As Inuyasha rose, the team continued on their path to the torch.

Naruto however, seemed to be focused on Luffy's hat. The straw hat seemed to be very old, as there were some frayed edges and some slight smudges on it. At last, Naruto had to ask.

"Hey Luffy?" Naruto asked. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure…" Luffy replied. "What of?"

"Your hat…" Naruto replied. "That hat looks pretty old…"

Luffy smiled and patted his straw hat.

"Yup! This old thing has seen me thru some tight spots!" Luffy grinned widely.

"But, have you ever considered getting a new one? I mean that thing looks ancient!" Naruto commented.

Luffy gripped the edge of his hat and tilted it down, hiding some of his face.

"No way! This hat is WAY to important to me to get rid of it!" Luffy replied. "I've had this most of my life!"

"Why though? Why's that hat so special?" Naruto asked again.

Luffy couldn't help but smile widely as he turned to the young ninja.

"Well, if you've got the time, I could tell ya!" Luffy grinned.

"Oh great…" Inuyasha groaned.

"Be nice Inuyasha!" Sakura scolded. "A story will help to pass the time on the way to the torch."

Sakura then smiled and turned to Luffy.

"Ok Luffy, go ahead!" She smiled.

"Well…. it started a long time ago, when I was just a boy growing up." Luffy began. "I had always loved the sea, pirates especially. I remember that one day; a crew of pirate's game and used the harbor as a base. I'll never forget their captain; I looked up to him above all others…Captain Red-Haired Shanks"

Inuyasha turned away, pretending not to be interested, when his ears perked up a bit to listen to Luffy's tale.

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While Luffy spun his yarn about how he came to get his hat, back in Hellclaw's castle, the captured friends desperately worked to try and get free. In one cage a dark haired boy with a metallic headband, tried to punch and kick the bars of his demonic cage to get free. Next to him, sitting on the ground, was a young pink haired girl who also bore a similar headband. She sat there trying to think of what to do.

"Sauske, can't you try and use one of your Jutsu to escape?" She asked.

"I tried already tried Sakura, and I can't" The boy known as Sauske replied. "This cage, it's completely drained me of my chakra, I can't use any Jutsu. Not to mention, that guy took our weapons…"

Sakura sighed to herself and leaned against the corner.

"I'm worried though, not just about us, but about Naruto…" She said.

Truth be told, Sakura always hated Naruto, she saw him as an annoying, obnoxious, pest. But deep down, she did care about him. Over the time they spent together, she had seen a new side of him that changed the way she thought about him (Though she still thought he was a pest)

"He'll be fine…" Sauske said suddenly.

Sakura turned and looked at Sauske who also sat down.

"Naruto may be one of the worst ninja's I've ever seen, but he can take care of himself…" Sauske said. "Who knows, maybe he'll actually show up and try to help us…"

Sakura looked at Sauske, and couldn't help but blush and fall to the side.

"_Oh Sauske, your sooooo smart…_" Sakura mentally swooned.

Sauske looked at the girl and sighed in annoyance. He suddenly heard voices coming from outside the cage; he pressed his ear to the side of his cage to listen. It was another group of prisoners.

In another cage, sat Luffy's friends, trying to formulate a means of escape. Chopper however, was running around the cage panicking.

"WHAT DO WE DO!? WHAT DO WE DO!? WHAT DO WE DO!?" He screamed as he ran.

Zoro groaned in annoyance before shooting his foot out, tripping the small reindeer creature.

"Get a grip Chopper!" Zoro groaned. "Unless you're trying to wear a hole in the floor, running around isn't going to do us much good…"

"Ol' Moss head is right…" Sanji sighed. "We need to think here…"

"But how?!" Chopper panicked. "That guy took all your weapons, and something with this cage is keeping me from transforming."

Suddenly, and idea struck Nami, and she turned to Robin, who was sitting calmly in the corner of the cage.

"Robin! Has this cage affected YOUR powers?" Nami asked.

"I don't know…" Robin replied. "Let me try…"

She focused hard, and in a split second, a small hand popped out of the ground in front of them, meaning her powers still worked!

"GREAT!!!" Ussop cheered. "Now you can grab the keys and get us out of here!"

Robin sighed and the hand before them vanished.

"Easier said than done…" Robin said quietly. "For one, I need to see where I'm aiming before I can use my powers, and I'd need to be able to at least know WHERE the keys are in order to get them. So I'm sorry, but I can't"

The team suddenly did a group groan as they tried to make a new plan.

"I'm worried about Luffy…" Chopper sighed. "That guy looked strong, I hope he's ok!"

Truth was, everyone was worried about Luffy's safety. Nami put on a brave face and tried to console the saddened reindeer creature.

"He'll be fine…" Nami smiled. "No one who's EVER faced Luffy has ever walked away without serious bodily damage."

"She's right, wherever he is, he'll be on the winning side" Zoro added.

Chopper put on a weak smile before sitting down and talking with Ussop. Nami then looked over to Zoro with a worried look in her eye.

"Still though, I hope your right Zoro…" She sighed.

Nami then looked across from then, to see two more cages, both prisoners in their cages seemed to be fast asleep.

"_Sleep…there's a good idea…_" Nami thought to herself.

Nami then curled up and closed her eyes, until she at last fell asleep

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Meanwhile, in the Ancient's world, the team listened intently to Luffy's story.

"Come on! Continue! This is getting good!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

Even Inuyasha had taken interest in Luffy's story!

"Yeah! Hurry up already…" Inuyasha complained.

"Well… After he threw down that smoke bomb, he dragged me out to sea and tried to drown me!" Luffy continued. "He threw me in, and watched as I began to drown. But then, at that moment, this huge, sea serpent splashed out of the water and ate him whole!!"

"Guy got what he deserved!" Naruto commented.

"Yeah, but THEN he came after me!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Young Luffy flailed around in the water helplessly as the Sea Serpent charged at him, ready to make a meal out of the boy. As the monster roared and tore out of the water, ready to chomp the boy, he felt something grab him. Luffy opened his eyes, and saw the monster tear right past him, and holding him was none of the than Captain Shanks!_

"_SHAAAAAAAAAANKS!!!!!!!!" Luffy cried in terror._

_Shanks had pulled Luffy out of the way at the last second, causing the Sea Monster to miss. The Sea Monster then resurfaced, ready for another strike at the two. But as the Sea Monster charged at the sight f Shanks glaring evilly at it._

"_Beat it…" He hissed angrily._

_The Monster seemed to be shaken up by Shanks' mere presence. After staring into the leering eyes of Captain Shanks for a bit, the monster did as told, and slowly swam away. Meanwhile, Luffy was crying in Shanks arms._

"_Luffy, your safe now!" Shanks said trying to calm the boy down. "Look! The monster's gone now!"_

"_Yeah, I know but…" Luffy sniffled. "WHAT ABOUT YOUR ARM!?"_

_Although Shanks had saved Luffy, the monster had torn off his left arm!!_

"_So what? A small price to pay, I'm just glad your ok…" Shanks said, wincing a bit from the pain._

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The others gaped in shock.

"He…lost his arm…just to save you??" Naruto cried.

Luffy just nodded silently while pulling his hat over his face, apparently still haunted by the event.

"Wow..." Sakura gaped.

Luffy then removed his hat, to reveal his grinning face.

"Yeah! He was a real friend!" Luffy smiled.

Luffy then held his hat out in front of him for all the others to see.

"Afterwards he decided to leave, but he gave me this hat to remember him. I swore to him, that I would gather a powerful crew, find the greatest treasure, and become the King of the Pirates!!" Luffy cheered. "I also promised that someday, I would find him, and return this to him after I've become a great pirate…"

Inuyasha mulled the story over in his mind.

"_So…that's his reason for wanting to succeed…A promise… but what about me? What's MY reason? Is it really about trying to become a full demon anymore?_" Inuyasha thought to himself.

Naruto meanwhile, was jumping up and down like a little kid.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!!!" He cheered. "Tell another one!"

Luffy smiled widely as he placed his hat back on.

"Alright…Let's see, how about the story about how my friends and I helped liberate the Kingdom of Alabasta?" Luffy asked.

Naruto just nodded rapidly.

"Ok then, it all started quiet some time ago…" Luffy began.

"Hey guys!!" Inuyasha interrupted.

Luffy stopped and the three turned to look at Inuyasha, who was pointing towards a large object before them. In the middle of a large lake, stood a massive stone pillar with ancient language written all over it. At the top of it stood a large bowl like object. The team had just arrived at the first torch!

"This is it! We made it!" Naruto cheered.


	9. The first torch

**Chapter 9: The first torch**

As the four approached the lake surrounding the torch, Sakura spotted an old stone relic imbedded in the earth right by the lake. She went over to it, and wiped the dirt off of it, to reveal a strange symbol.

"Hey guys! Look at this!" Sakura called.

The remaining three walked over and looked at the symbol; it appeared to be a Skull and crossbones that had a hat on the skull and wide jaw which hung down.

"What the hell is that?" Inuyasha asked.

"THAT'S MY EMBLEM!!" Luffy cried.

The three turned to face the Straw Hat pirate as he continued.

"That's the emblem I use for my flag and sails!!" Luffy said. "How did that get here?"

Sakura scratched her chin while thinking, until an idea hit her.

"If that's YOUR symbol, then I guess that means this torch is for YOU to light" Sakura finally said.

"Seems likely…" Inuyasha commented.

Luffy then stared at the torch with interest before smiling. He then took his hat off, hanging it by a drawstring on his back.

"Ok then, here I go then…" Luffy said with confidence.

As he approached, he realized just HOW big the lake was. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and backed up a bit.

"What's the matter?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah stretch! If you're a big bad pirate, shouldn't water be a natural thing for you?" Inuyasha asked smiling, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Um… thing is, there's one small side-effect of the Gum Gum Fruit: I sink like an anchor water, meaning it took my ability to swim." Luffy said nervously.

The other three just groaned collectively.

"Great… How are you supposed to get across?" Naruto asked.

Sakura spotted a tree nearby which gave her an idea.

"Luffy, try wrapping your legs around that tree and stretching way across!" Sakura suggested.

Luffy looked at the tree and smiled. He then ran over and wrapped his legs around the tree, coiling his legs about like a snake. He then shot his upper half forward, stretching it out far until he grabbed the base of the torch with his arms.

"GUYS!" He called. "Climb across! In case I need help!"

The three looked at each other and cringed. The idea of using Luffy as a human bridge didn't sound safe.

"C'MON! Before I lose my grip!" Luffy called again.

The others finally sighed and complied, climbing on Luffy's stretched out back and slowly walking across, trying extra hard not to lose their balance.

"I can't believe we're doing this…" Inuyasha groaned.

Halfway across, the weight on his back became a little too much for Luffy; he felt his grip weaken a bit. He suddenly lost his grip on the torch but quickly dug his fingers into the ground, trying not to let go with the pressure on his back.

On Luffy's back, the sudden jolt from Luffy caused his back to dip slightly. The others almost fell off Luffy's back.

"Hey keep it steady stretch!" Inuyasha called.

"I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN!" Luffy called back

Naruto just sighed as they continued across.

"Well, at least things can't get any worse…" Naruto said.

Suddenly the four were interrupted by a familiar laughing, a laughing that belonged to none other than Krad.

"You HAD to ask, didn't you!?" Inuyasha sneered.

When Krad finished laughing, he looked over the four heroes before smiling evilly.

"Doth my ear deceive me? A Sailor who can't swim?" Krad snickered. "How amusing!"

The four glared at Krad with anger.

"What do you want now?!" Inuyasha yelled.

"To merely have some fun…" Krad smirked.

He then turned to Luffy, who was still hanging on for dear life to the island surrounding the torch.

"Oh by the way, that was a VERY interesting story you told Luffy…" Krad smiled evilly.

Luffy suddenly went wide eyed at Krad's statement.

"You were listening??" Luffy asked.

"_How come I didn't sense him?_" Inuyasha thought to himself.

"Yes, I was… and let me ask you something Straw Hat… does THIS seem familiar?"

With that, Krad plucked out a feather and dropped it into the water. With that, he vanished as the lake began to rumble fiercely. The four watched as something began to rise out of the lake. It was a big green sea serpent with burning red eyes and over 100 razor sharp fangs.

While the others gaped in shock, Luffy just gaped in fear, his eyes widened, and he felt as if his very soul was sucked out of him.

"That….thing….THAT'S THE THING THAT GOT SHANKS!!" Luffy screamed.

The others looked at Luffy with pure shock.

"WHAT!? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Naruto cried.

The monster roared and tore towards the group. Luffy quickly released his grip on his tree and his body shot forward, taking the others with him, and dragging them out of harms way. The four landed on the island by the torch, Luffy was just laying there like a lump, and the event came flooding back to him, haunting his mind.

"Luffy! Snap out of it!" Sakura said, shaking him.

It did no good; Luffy seemed to be lost in a trance like state, traumatized by the horrible incident in the past.

"It's no good! He won't budge!" Sakura said with worry to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha growled as he whipped out the Tetsusaiga, ready to fight.

"Then we'll have to beat this thing by ourselves!" Inuyasha growled.

Naruto quickly preformed a hand sign and his feet began to glow a pulsing blue.

"I'm ready when you are!" Naruto called.

Sakura looked back at Luffy with worry, before whispering to him.

"_Please wake up…_"

Sakura then got into a fighters position as the monster roared at them.

"LET'S GO!!" Inuyasha called.

With that, they charged. Naruto began to actually run on the surface of the water, taunting the monster while doing so.

"HEY! YOU BIG TUNA! OVER HERE!!" Naruto called.

The monster roared and dove underwater and chased after Naruto. Inuyasha gripped his sword, trying to get a clear shot at the monster. As Naruto tore by at full speed with the monster in tow, Inuyasha saw his moment and slammed his sword against the ground.

"**ADAMENT BIRRAGE!!**"

A 100 shards of adamant came flying out of the Tetsusaiga's out of the blade, half of which hit its target. The monster roared in pain and decided to ignore Naruto and decided go straight for Inuyasha. Inuyasha gripped his sword, ready to fight. The monster roared and dove for him. The blade of the Tetsusaiga caught in between the two front fangs of the beast, as Inuyasha tried to hold it off.

"SAKURA! SUMMON A CARD!!" Inuyasha cried.

Sakura nodded and pulled out the Arrow card. Before she could summon it however, the monster suddenly turned to the left, with the Tetsusaiga still in its fangs, and Inuyasha still holding on. It began to whip its head around rapidly, trying to shake Inuyasha off it. It soon succeeded, and the half-demon went flying thru the air with sword in hand and fell into the water, where he was at the monster's mercy.

"So that's how you wanna play huh?" Inuyasha asked mockingly.

The monster suddenly re-surfaced in front of him, ready to chomp down on him. Inuyasha quickly bared his claws and slashed them thru the air.

"**IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!!**"

His claws created a bunch of large yellow shockwaves which shot forward and smashed into the beast dead on. The monster roared in pain as Inuyasha tried to swim back to Sakura.

The monster turned and roared, and just as he was about to take off after Inuyasha, it felt something sharp jut into it's back, it was Naruto with a Kunai!

Naruto suddenly whistled and more Naruto clones shot out of the water, each bearing a Kunai and digging it into the skin of the beast.

"YOUR MINE!!" Naruto cried.

The monster roared and began to whip around wildly, blowing off all the clones and leaving only the original still hanging on. Inuyasha eventually reached the sword and shook some of the water of him.

"SAKURA! SUMMON A CARD ALREADY!!" Inuyasha commanded.

As Sakura watched the monster and Naruto flail around, saw her chance, she quickly raised her staff and threw the Arrow card into the air.

"_I call upon the power of my star! Ancient forces near and far! Arrow Card Transform all your might! And draw your power from my light!_" Sakura chanted out loud. "ARROW CARD! TAKE CARE OF THIS BEAST!"

The star on Sakura's staff began to spin wildly as magic began to pour from the card. Suddenly, a blue-purplish maiden with a pudding basin haircut and two long pigtails appeared, carrying a magic bow. She quickly formed an arrow of magic and shot at the Sea Monster, nailing it in the lower stomach area.

The monster hollered in pain and flung Naruto thru the air. Naruto ended up smacking into the torch with his back and face planting on the ground.

"NARUTO!!" Sakura cried.

Naruto weakly rose to his feet, shaking a bit.

"I'm fine…I've been thru worse..." He smiled weakly

Sakura looked and saw the monster tearing towards them.

"ARROW CARD! Stop that thing!" Sakura commanded.

The Arrow maiden began to fire round after round of magic arrows at the charging monster, none of which seemed to slow the creature down a bit.

"What do we do now??" Sakura cringed, her mind racing furiously.

Inuyasha growled and took a step forward, with his sword extended.

"We stand our ground!!" He called.

Sakura called back the Arrow Card and summoned the Sword Card, and stepped forward, ready to fight. Naruto took a step forward as well, with a Kunai in hand, also ready to fight.

Luffy meanwhile, slowly rose up, groping his head in pain.

"Ugh…what happened?"

He looked, and saw the Sea Monster advancing towards his friends! An emotion overtook Luffy, but it wasn't fear… it was anger. Memories of that event swelled up in his body, consuming him.

He focused hard as his legs suddenly began to throb. He was using his legs to forcibly pump blood at an inhuman rate thru his body. Since he had a rubber body with rubber organs, his heart and organs didn't explode with the increased blood pressure. The increased flow of blood also caused all the sweat on his body to evaporate right off, giving him a pinkish glow. This was a tactic known only as "Gear Second"

Luffy suddenly tore out in front of his friends as the Sea Monster dove for them. He shot his hands out and grabbed its upper and lower fangs, holding its mouth open.

"LUFFY!?" The group called in shock.

"Luffy?? What the hell are you doing!?" Inuyasha yelled.

"**GET BACK!!**" Luffy commanded loudly.

The others wisely backed up as Luffy held the monsters moth open, with steam spewing off his body; the increased blood flow had brought vital nutrients into his system, making him twice as strong as before.

Luffy then turned to the monster staring straight into its open mouth.

"LISTEN YOU!!" Luffy called "You already got ONE of my friends, and THAT'S one too many!!"

The monster didn't seem to care as it tried to force its jaws down on him. Luffy grunted as he tried to hold open its mouth.

Sakura was ready to summon the Strength Card to give Luffy power, but she was amazed when she saw Luffy beginning to win out. Luffy began to force its mouth open wider, stretching his arms out in the process.

"Do you not know WHO I am!?" Luffy bellowed. "I am Monkey D. Luffy!"

Luffy began to force its mouth open wider still; the others could swear they heard something crack.

"And I…am the man…who will become…"

Suddenly with every once of his strength, he suddenly shot his arms out far, and forced its mouth open wider to the point where the team heard a loud SNAP! sound, which signaled that Luffy had ripped it's mouth open, shattering it's jaw and killing it.

"**THE KING OF THE PIRATES!!**" Luffy screamed.

With that, Luffy stretched his fist way far back and shot it forward, punching the dead monster and sending up into the air, and crashing down in the lake.

"And don't you EVER come near my friends…" Luffy muttered grimly, placing his hat back on his head.

The steam on his body died down, and his normal skin tone returned as his blood rate returned to normal. The three remaining heroes were utterly shocked at Luffy's feat, even Inuyasha was impressed.

"Wow, was THAT really Luffy??" Naruto gaped.

Sakura reluctantly approached the Straw Hat Pirate and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Luffy…?" She asked with concern. "A-are you alright?"

Luffy then turned to Sakura, smiling his big goofy grin as always, and giving a thumbs up.

"Yup! Never better!" Luffy grinned. "Just blowing off some steam…"

"How can he be so light-hearted?" Inuyasha asked to no one in particular.

Luffy then turned to face the torch, looking up at it from down below.

"Now…How do I light this?"

At that moment an area on his chest began to glow. The three stepped back in shock, as a small white orb slowly appeared from Luffy's chest and flew up, inside the torch. Suddenly a giant, yellow flame came out of the torch.

And from the flame, came a small, yellow pearl like object, which flew down and implanted itself into Luffy's chest. As the gem sat on his chest, strange, ancient looking letters appeared around it, forming some sort of crest

"What the heck? What's this thing??" Luffy asked, poking the gem.

Inuyasha pressed his finger into the gem, closing his eyes.

"I sense power in this thing, dormant power…" Inuyasha said. "What ever it is, It'll probably come in handy later…"

Naruto then approached Luffy carefully.

"Luffy…what you did back there….WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!!"

Luffy just grinned widely at the young ninja.

"Oh that? Just a little trick I picked up…." Luffy smiled.

Sakura looked up at the sky; the sun was setting the horizon, and the Twin Moons were rising.

"Guys, we should go, we gotta make camp before it gets too dark…" She said.

The three nodded in agreement. After Luffy stretched himself across the lake and helped the others across, they headed on their way to the next torch.

"Well, one down and three to go!" Naruto cheered.

"Yeah! We're doing great!!" Luffy smiled.

"Don't get too cocky, we've only gotten to one torch, and knowing Hellclaw and Krad, things are going to get harder, much harder…" Inuyasha pointed out.

Naruto sighed and hunched over in aggravation.

"You killjoy…" Naruto groaned.

"Well, what matters is that we've already gotten one down, and we're one step closer to finding out friends" Sakura cut in.

"YEAH!" cheered Luffy and Naruto.

Inuyasha just crossed his arms and sighed.

"_How can they be so optimistic?_" Inuyasha thought to himself. "_Still though, their tougher than they look, I may not regret this as much as I thought…_"

I have returned from the author's grave, and I'm back in action!!

As the four walked into the horizon towards the next torch, Krad landed down on the plain behind them, and watched them walk off.

"Well now, It seems their tougher than I gave them credit for… Meaning things could begin to get more and more complicated…" Krad said to himself


	10. The Disc

**Chapter 10: The Disc**

All was silent in Hellclaw's castle, with the exception of the sound of footsteps approaching. Hellclaw was hunched on his dark throne as Krad approached. The throne room was a sight to be seen indeed. The walls were a darkish pink hue, as if it were made out of flesh. Hellclaw's throne sported two horns at the top, and an eyeball that gazed at Krad as he entered the room.

"_What news do you have for me?_" Hellclaw asked darkly.

"Sir" Krad began. "I regret to inform you that those four actually managed to light the first torch. Not even the monster I summoned could stop them…"

Hellclaw growled evilly as he hunched lower on his throne, apparently losing himself in deep thought. After a strong silence, Hellclaw sat up again and spoke.

"_A lucky victory for them…_" Hellclaw stated. "_It doesn't matter, I will not be stopped!_"

Krad just gave off an evil smile as he spread his wings.

"Do you wish me to return to watch them?" He asked.

"_In a moment Krad…_" Hellclaw said. "_There is something I want you to take…_"

With that, Hellclaw rose up from his throne and walked to the side of the room and held his claw to the wall. Within a few moments a small bubble oozed its way out of the wall and floated in front of him. Inside the bubble was a small disc. Hellclaw removed the disc from its bubble and flung it at Krad, who caught it rather skillfully.

"What is this?" He asked as he looked the disc over.

Hellclaw smirked form under his mask as he approached Krad.

"_During my travels thru the worlds, I stumbled upon one that particularly interested me…_" He said. "_It was a world made up of pure data!_"

"A world of data?" Krad asked.

Hellclaw just nodded as he continued.

"_The world was overrun with strange and unusual creatures…_" He added. "_I found ONE beast in particular that exceptionally strong… unfortunately; I could not make it submit to my commands…_"

Krad scratched his chin with interest as Hellclaw continued.

"_So instead of wasting my time trying to capture it, I merely copied its data and brought it back here to reconfigure it_" Hellclaw stated. "_Though as I did, the data became a little…corrupted. The monster became dark, evil, and more powerful…exactly what I wanted…_"

"So what are your commands?" Krad asked calmly.

"_I want you to take this disk back to the ancient's world… let our heroes rest for tonight, tomorrow, when the least suspect it, use your feathers to bring forth the data to destroy them…_" Hellclaw ordered.

Krad simply bowed before spreading his wings, and disappearing into the darkness. Hellclaw then silently stalked back to his throne before sitting down and gripping the armrest firmly.

"_Soon my heroes…very soon…_" He muttered to himself. "_You will all cease to exist…and then I--"_

"HEY BOSS!!" A loud, annoying voice yelled out.

Hellclaw growled lowly as a small, bat-like creature fluttered into the room. The creature was round like a ball, and wore a strange blue garb that was stitched around its face and wings. The creature landed on Hellclaw's arm rest and looked up at him.

"_DemiDevimon…_" Hellclaw growled. "_You had better have a good excuse for barging in like this…_"

"I just wanted to say…" DemiDevimon said. "That I don't exactly trust this 'Krad' guy. Why don't you send ME to get rid of those heroes for you? If you want MY opinion--"

DemiDevimon never got to finish his statement, for Hellclaw suddenly grabbed him tightly and brought him to eye-level.

"_I never asked, nor do I WANT your opinion!_" Hellclaw yelled. "_Now listen carefully, I took pity on you and took you from the data world to my castle under the condition that you would obey ME correct?_"

DemiDevimon just gave off a nervous 'Yes'

"_Well, here's your newest order…NEVER interrupt me like this again, or I will personally rip your data apart! One byte at a time!! Do I make myself clear?_"

DemiDevimon just gulped in response.

"Hallmark couldn't have put it any better, boss…" He nervously replied.

With that, Hellclaw threw DemiDevimon at a wall, which he hit hard before falling to the ground.

"_Get out of my sight…_" He growled as he sat back in his throne.

Needless to say, DemiDevimon wisely disappeared from sight.

--

Back in the prison chamber. Inuyasha's friends sat in their cage, debating on what to do.

The first was a young girl who was dressed in a traditional school outfit, this was Kagome. The second was another girl, who wore a dark, black and pink warrior's outfit, this was Sango. The third was a young man dressed in a black and dark blue outfit, this was Miroku, and the fourth was a small, fox like demon child, this was Shippo.

"Miroku, are you SURE you can't use your Wind Tunnel to get us all out of here?" Sango asked.

"I can't" He replied. "This cage… has some kind of power… it's negated the Wind Tunnel. Though now, I'm not so sure if that's good or bad…"

"Whatever this is, it's keeping me from transforming…" Shippo added.

"Not to mention that whoever that guy was, he took all of our weapons…" Kagome sighed.

The team fell silent for a moment while thinking of what to do. Sango just sat there in the corner, while petting a small, cat like creature in her arms named Kilala.

"I just hope Inuyasha is ok…" Sango sighed. "He was the only one that didn't get sucked into that portal…what… what if he's…"

"Don't think like that…" Miroku suddenly said. "Inuyasha is strong, and he knows how to survive, where ever he is…I know he's alright."

Sango looked up at Miroku before he continued.

"Who knows, maybe he'll come here to save us… But for now, we can't let our minds be filled with negative thoughts…"

Sango then looked away for a bit before turning back to Miroku and smiling.

"Yes…you're right, thank you for that…" She smiled.

Miroku then leaned over and hugged Sango lightly.

"It was my pleasure…"

Sango suddenly began to blush, but for a DIFFERENT reason.

"Miroku?" She asked.

"Yes?" He replied, still hugging her.

"You have three second to remove your hand…" Sango glared.

Miroku then let go of Sango before nervously backing away, keeping his hands in sight.

"_You'd think by now I'd learn to see it coming!_" Sango angrily thought to herself.

--

In another cage, sat Sakura's friends. The first was a boy dressed in a green, Chinese warrior's garb. This was Sakura's friend, Li Syaoran. The second was Sakura's best friend, a young girl named Tomoyo. The third, was another girl, who like Li, also wore a Chinese warrior's garb, this was another friend of Sakura's, Mei-Ling. The fourth and final friend was a small, yellow creature with tiny wings on its back; this was Sakura's guardian, Kero.

Li, Tomoyo, and Kero just watched as Mei-Ling attempted to break the door down with her martial art skills.

"You can keep hitting that door forever, it does never gonna budge…" Kero pointed out.

"At least I'm doing SOMETHING!" Mei-Ling stated. "Can't you just transform and get us out of here?"

"I TOLD you I can't!" Kero replied. "Something with this cage is keeping me from transforming!"

"And then there's the fact that whoever that guy was, he took my sword and my paper seals…" Li added.

"And my video camera…" Tomoyo sadly added as well.

Mei-Ling turned to the others and sighed sadly.

"But we HAVE to do something!" Mei-Ling pleaded. "I'm worried about Sakura! She didn't get sucked in with us!"

"She's fine…" Kero replied. "I would know if Sakura had been defeated, as her guardian, I can feel her life force…"

The remaining three just gave a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's a load off my mind…" Tomoyo said. "But that still doesn't solve the problem of getting out of here…"

Li then yawned as he laid back on the cage wall.

"Well for now, let's just rest…" He said. "We'll figure it out later on…"

Kero then yawned as he fluttered over and sat in Tomoyo's lap.

"For ONCE, I agree with you…" Kero said.

"Me too…" Tomoyo mumbled as she yawned and slowly nodded off.

Mei-Ling didn't even reply, she slowly dropped down on the floor and yawned before slowly falling asleep.

Li was the only one still awake as he watched his friends sleep.

"Sakura…" He mumbled. "Please be ok…"


	11. Corrupted Data

**Chapter 11: Corrupted Data**

After a night of celebrating from their latest victory, the team woke up the next morning and prepared to make their way to the next torch.

"So, is everyone ready?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just go already!" Inuyasha demanded impatiently.

Naruto then suddenly felt a rumble in his stomach, signifying that he was hungry.

"But guys, what about breakfast?" He asked, clutching his stomach.

"Don't worry Naruto…" Luffy grinned widely. "I'LL get us some breakfast!"

Luffy then began to run towards the forest to search for food. The remaining three suddenly remembered what happened the LAST time Luffy went to go get food! Not wanting a similar incident to occur, Inuyasha suddenly ran forward and bashed Luffy in the back of the head, sending the Straw Hat pirate to the ground.

"Oh NO you don't!" Inuyasha yelled.

--

After much arguing, they came to an agreement to let Luffy go and get food, under the condition that Naruto went with him to make sure he didn't get anything that would lead to something trying to kill them.

"Hey Luffy! Look!" Naruto said. "There are some apples in that tree!"

Luffy looked up, and sure enough there were some apples in the tree above. Luffy then stretched his arm out and grabbed one of the apples and attempted to pull it off the branch, only to find that the stem was firmly attached to the branch.

"I can't pull it off…" Luffy finally said, snapping his arm back into place.

Naruto then smirked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a shuriken. He then flung at the apple, which flew thru the air and sliced the stem off the apple. The apple began to fall to the ground, but Luffy shot his hand out and caught it before it hit the ground.

"Nice catch!" Naruto said. "Now we just need to find some more, and we'll have enough to--"

Luffy then took the apple and swallowed it whole, stem and all. Naruto just looked exasperated as Luffy grinned.

"Here's an idea, why don't we try actually SAVING some food for the others…" Naruto suggested.

"But I'm hungry!" Luffy whined.

"Food is going to be the least of your problems my friend…" A voice suddenly said.

Naruto and Luffy suddenly turned around only to see none other than Krad floating in the air in a clearing not to far away.

"KRAD!!"

Naruto and Luffy ran into the clearing to face Krad. Luffy placed a hand on his shoulder as he drew his fist back, ready to fight. Naruto brandished a Kunai as he got into a fighters stance.

"Now that's not very nice…" Krad smirked. "All I wanted was to show you my new friend…"

With that, Krad dropped the disc on the ground below him and plucked a feather from his wings. He then dropped the feather from his fingers and vanished. Naruto and Luffy watched curiously as the feather fluttered down and landed on the disc he dropped.

The disc seemed to absorb the feather as it began to shake wildly. Luffy and Naruto backed up, ready for anything. The disc then shot out a beam of dark light which shot out into the sky. The beam of light then began to grow wide, as if it were some kind of portal.

--

Back at camp, it didn't take long for Inuyasha and Sakura to notice a dark beam of light shooting into the sky.

"I'm guessing that's not good…." Sakura gulped.

Inuyasha remained silent as his senses kicked in; he felt a dark energy coming from the forest.

"That's DEFINETLY not good…." Inuyasha commented.

"But…Naruto and Luffy are there, they can handle it right?" Sakura asked.

Inuyasha just gave Sakura an exasperated look.

"Sakura…this is NARUTO and LUFFY we're talking about…" He replied.

Sakura thought on Inuyasha's words for a moment before nodding.

"Your right…" She agreed "let's go…"

With that, Sakura grabbed her cards and followed Inuyasha to find Luffy and Naruto.

--

Luffy and Naruto watched as the beam of light began extremely wide. Suddenly, from inside the beam, a large, reptilian foot stepped out, which was followed by another.

Luffy and Naruto gaped as they saw just what those feet were attached to. The feet belonged to a giant dinosaur like creature. The creature had light purple skin and dark blue stripes on its body. It stood upright as a black; skull like object covered its head. The skull had three horns jetting out of it as well, one in the very front, and two in the back, jetting out the sides.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!?" Naruto cried in shock.

The creature gave off a low growl as it opened its mouth. A black mist spewed out of its mouth as it looked down at the two

"_**BlackGreymon…**_" The creature suddenly answered.

"It can talk!?" Naruto cried.

Luffy just growled as he got into a fighters stance.

"I don't care if it can sing and dance, it's going down!!" Luffy yelled.

With that, Luffy stretched his arm back before shooting at BlackGreymon.

"**GUM GUM PISTOL!!**"

Luffy's fist nailed BlackGreymon in the chest. The evil creature cringed as it skidded back slightly at the force of Luffy's fist. BlackGreymon regained its composure and growled at the two heroes.

"_**My turn… NOVA BLAST!!**_"

BlackGreymon opened his mouth and shot out a black fireball at the two. Luffy and Naruto jumped out of the way as the fireball slammed into the ground and exploded.

--

Krad watched from a distance perched in a tree a good distance away to watch the battle unfold.

"Well, Hellclaw was right; this truly IS a powerful beast…" Krad commented. "Let's see how our heroes will deal with this…"

--

The two gaped at the crater the fireball left. They were so distracted that they didn't see BlackGreymon's clawed hand shoot out and swipe at them. BlackGreymon connected a hit, and two went flying thru the air and smashed into a tree.

"Alright…THAT'S it!" Naruto growled. "He's going down! Believe it!"

Naruto then bounded out of the tree and ran at BlackGreymon. As he ran, he quickly performed multiple hand signs before crying out.

"**SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!**"

About 10 other Naruto clones appeared on the field as he charged at BlackGreymon. BlackGreymon swiped his claws at the clones as they jumped at him. Three clones got caught in his swipe and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The remaining seven all whipped out Kunai's and prepared to attack.

"_**NOVA BLAST!!**_"

BlackGreymon opened his mouth and shot out another fireball, which hit all the clones and wiped them out instantly.

"NARUTO!!" Luffy cried in shock.

He watched all the clones' burn in the fire before bursting into smoke and disappearing. But then Luffy noticed something, up on top of BlackGreymon's skull, stood the REAL Naruto.

"Don't underestimate a real ninja!" Naruto smirked proudly.

With that, Naruto jumped back and slammed a Kunai straight thru the skull on BlackGreymon's head, creating a small crack as it dug in. BlackGreymon screamed in pain and whipped around violently, knocking Naruto off his perch and causing him to land directly in front of BlackGreymon. BlackGreymon opened his mouth, ready to fire another Nova Blast, when Luffy came running in. He jumped into the air and stretched his leg back before spinning in the air.

"**GUM GUM WHIP!!**"

Luffy swung his stretched out foot, and it smashed into the side of BlackGreymon's head, sending him tumbling to the side.

"Nice shot!' Naruto smirked.

Luffy just grinned widely as BlackGreymon slowly rose to his feet ready to attack the two. It suddenly roared and began to run at Luffy and Naruto. But before it could get anywhere near them…

"**ADAMANT BARRAGE!!**"

Over a hundred razor sharp spears of adamant came flying out of the trees, striking BlackGreymon in the side. The dark data monster howled in pain as Inuyasha jumped out of the trees and into the clearing, followed by Sakura.

"There you guys are!!" Sakura cried out.

"It's about time you showed up!!" Naruto yelled.

"Can't you two go ANYWHERE without stirring up trouble?!" Inuyasha yelled back.

"This one wasn't out fault!" Luffy replied. "It was Krad!"

Inuyasha just sighed in agitation.

"Figures…"

He then looked up at BlackGreymon, who was not too thrilled about being jabbed with sharp objects.

"Mind telling me what the hell this thing is?" Inuyasha asked.

"It calls itself BlackGreymon." Naruto explained. "And watch out for its fire!!"

"So… Fire is its forte eh?" Inuyasha asked. "Interesting…"

"_**NOVA FLAME!!**_"

BlackGreymon shot another fireball, which Sakura barely managed to dodge. She jumped out of the way as the fireball exploded next to her, forming a crater. Inuyasha then looked back at BlackGreymon before running towards Sakura. He then removed his robe and draped it around Sakura.

Sakura looked up at Inuyasha as he wrapped it around her.

"Your robe?" She asked.

"It's resistant against fire…" He explained. "Since you can't move as fast as we can, you'll need this…trust me…"

Sakura just held the robe close to her and nodded while smiling.

"Thanks…" She smiled.

"HEY!!" Luffy yelled. "WHAT ABOUT ME!? RUBBER ABSORBS HEAT YOU KNOW!!"

"Bah, you'll be fine, stretch…" Inuyasha replied unenthusiastically.

Luffy just glared at Inuyasha in response. BlackGreymon then brought his arm up and swung at Inuyasha, who jumped into the air to dodge. He then bounded off a tree and flew at BlackGreymon with his Tetsusaiga in perfect view.

"Alright big guy, eat this!!"

Inuyasha swung his blade at BlackGreymon, who held his arm up and pinched his claws together, trapping the blade of the Tetsusaiga between it.

"Dammit!" Inuyasha yelled as he struggled to dislodge his blade.

BlackGreymon then swung his arm down throwing Inuyasha into the ground with a thud. Sakura knew she had to do something, and quickly summoned a card with her staff. The card floated before her before she slammed her staff down on it. Electric energy began to spark around her staff, as she had just summoned the 'Thunder' Card.

"THUNDER CARD!!" She yelled. "Strike down the monster!!"

A blast of lightning suddenly shot down from the sky and pounded into BlackGreymon. The monster roared as it felt the electricity surge. BlackGreymon then turned to face Sakura with rage.

"Uh-oh…" She gulped.

BlackGreymon stamped its foot which shook the ground, causing Sakura to fall on her back, and lose control of the spell, causing it to cancel out.

"_**NOVA FLAME!!**_"

BlackGreymon shot a dark fireball at Sakura. Sakura screamed and covered her body with Inuyasha's robe out of instinct. The fireball slammed into her and exploded.

"SAKURA!!" Luffy cried.

When the smoke faded. Sakura layed at the bottom of the crater, completely unharmed. She was amazed that she was still alive; Inuyasha's robe had saved her. BlackGreymon prepared to fire again before he was rudely interrupted.

"**GUM GUM PISTOL!!**"

BlackGreymon lurched forward as Luffy's stretched out fist bashed the back of his head. BlackGreymon then turned towards Luffy and bent down, with its horns out front.

"_**GREAT HORN ATTACK!!**_"

BlackGreymon suddenly dove at Luffy and swung its head and horns upwards. The edge of BlackGreymon's front horn managed to scrape against Luffy's chest, drawing blood in the process. The momentum of the hit was enough to send Luffy flying straight up into the air.

As Luffy sailed thru the air, an idea suddenly popped into his head.

"HEY!! GUYS!!" He yelled down below. "IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, HOLD HIM DOWN!!"

Sakura managed to hear Luffy's command and nodded while drawing out the 'Windy' card. The Windy card took its physical form as the maiden of pure wind. It stood by, ready for Sakura's orders.

"_Wind become my binding chain! Hold down that beast that's caused much disdain!!_" She chanted out loud.

The wind being went right to work as it split into streams of visible wind which wrapped around BlackGreymon's arms, legs, horns, and neck. BlackGreymon struggled to break free of windy's grasp, but found it a futile effort.

"HE'S ALL YOURS LUFFY!!" Sakura yelled up to Luffy.

Luffy smirked as gravity kicked in and he fell towards the now trapped BlackGreymon. As he fell, he clenched his right hand into a fist, and used his left hand to actually twist up his right arm as if he was winding a toy. As he twisted his arm, his arm began to coil up like a spring ready to launch.

As he neared BlackGreymon he released his coiled up arm, which began to spin as it snapped back into place.

"**GUM GUM…**"

Luffy then flung his spinning arm and fist straight at BlackGreymon's skull.

"**RIFLE!!**"

Luffy's fist smashed into BlackGreymon's skull, causing numerous cracks to spread around its head.

BlackGreymon howled in pain before slowly falling backwards and lifelessly landing on its back with a thud. Luffy jumped off BlackGreymon's damaged skull and landed in front of the group with a smirk on his face.

The four looked over the fallen monster, it didn't move.

"HA! WE WIN!!" Luffy cheered.

"That wasn't so hard…" Inuyasha smirked.

"Nice work Sakura!" Naruto smiled.

"Thanks…" Sakura smiled back.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get out of here…" Inuyasha said, crossing his arms.

The other three nodded in agreement and began to walk away, but it was then that they heard a rumbling.

"Naruto, tell me that was your stomach…" Inuyasha groaned.

Naruto just shook his head in response. All four turned their heads, and saw BlackGreymon shaking on the ground. An invisible force seemed to lift BlackGreymon up into the air as BlackGreymon's eyes began to glow white.

"I got a feeling this isn't over…" Naruto gulped.

--

Ok, ok, ok...before I get tons of spam with people moaning and groaning asking me 'Why did you put in Digimon?' Let me explain. I loved Digimon as a kid, it was one of my first anime's (The first one being Card Captors) And I decided it'd only be fair to pay some sort of trubute to it...and it's only for two or three chaps, so I really don't want people complaining about it... And besides, I'm sure most people figured out it was Digimon by the subtle hint I threw in the last chap.

Anyway R&R


	12. Debugging the Dark Data

Chapter 2: Debugging the Dark Data

**Chapter 12: Debugging the Dark Data**

Krad watched with interest from a distance.

"Now this is certainly interesting…" He commented.

--

The four watched as BlackGreymon was engulfed in dark aura that surrounded its body.

"What's it doing??" Naruto asked.**  
**

"I don't know…" Inuyasha replied.

"But I have a bad feeling about this…" Sakura gulped.****

_**BlackGreymon...Dark Digivolve to…**_

Blackgreymon suddenly shot his hand out and it began to transform into a giant mechanical claw! He shot his head down as the cracked skull on his head was suddenly coated with metal, along with the horn on the front. Metal plating appeared on his chest as large, purple, wing like objects jetted out of his back. He then grew to twice his original size and roared into the sky.

_**BlackMetalGreymon!!**_

The four simply gaped at the large beast before them.

"You….have gotta be kidding me…" Naruto said.

"It's….huge…." Sakura gaped.

"Bah! Changing shape doesn't scare ME!!" Inuyasha yelled, brandishing his Tetsusaiga.

Inuyasha then ran at BlackMetalGreymon and jumped into the air.

"Eat THIS you tin can!!" Inuyasha yelled. "**WIND….**"

Before Inuyasha could finish, the plating on BlackMetalGreymon's chest opened up, to reveal two large missiles that were stored inside.

_**GIGA BLASTER!!**_

The missiles suddenly fired from his chest and struck Inuyasha instantly, resulting in a large explosion that blew everyone else back.

"INUYASHA!!" Sakura yelled.

As the explosion faded away, Inuyasha fell to the ground. The remaining three ran up to him to see that he was ok. Inuyasha was smoldering from the explosion, but otherwise not hurt.

"Dammit…" He cursed. "He's gotten stronger…"

Luffy then ran at BlackMetalGreymon, jumping high into the air. BlackMetalGreymon swung his gigantic metal claw at him, but it missed. Luffy landed on its head and prepared to strike.

"**GUM GUM….GATLING!!**"

Luffy began to rapidly punch the metal skull at a speed that made it look like his fists multiplied. But despite the rapid blows, his strikes seemed to do nothing. BlackMetalGreymon then thrusted his head backwards, sending Luffy flying off the back. He then shot his hands out and grabbed onto one of his horns.

"**GUM GUM ROCKET!!**"

Luffy used it to catapult himself high into the air, and above BlackMetalGreymon.

"**GUM GUM STAMP!!**"

Luffy stretched his foot out and slammed it into the top of BlackMetalGreymon's head, but once again, it did nothing.

"The metal is too thick!" Sakura yelled. "I don't think you can break thru it!!"

Naruto then ran at BlackMetalGreymon with a kunai in his hand and jumped at him.

_**MEGA CLAW!!**_

The giant metal claw on his hand suddenly shot out with a metal rope connecting it to his arm. The claw hit Naruto dead on and slammed him into the ground before retracting back to his arm.

"Ergh… Lucky shot…" Naruto grumbled as he got back to his feet.

Sakura pulled out another Clow Card and slammed her staff down on it.

"Shot Card!" Sakura cried. "Attack the monster!!"

An orb of light suddenly flew out of the card and hovered in the air before firing short bursts of energy at BlackMetalGreymon, who blocked it by holding up his metal claw.

"It didn't work??"

The attack only seemed to make him angry as his chest opened up again to reveal more missiles.

_**GIGA BLASTER!!**_

The two missiles shot out and flew towards Sakura!

"Sakura! Watch out!!" Naruto cried.

Sakura screamed as she pulled out a random Clow Card and slammed her staff down on it, hoping it would do something.

A large explosion rang out, which blew the others backwards.

"SAKURA!!" They cried.

As the smoke faded, they soon saw that she was perfectly alright! She was cringing behind what looked like a giant shield. Sakura opened one eye and saw the shield floating in front of her. She looked at the card she summoned and saw that she had summoned the 'Shield' card.

"_Thank goodness…_" She thought. "_I called up the shield card…_"

As Sakura called back the 'Shield' card, BlackMetalGreymon opened its chest to fire more missiles. Luffy (Who had gotten behind him) stretched his arms out and wrapped them around his chest, forcing the metal plating to close up again.

"Oh no you don't!!" Luffy cried as he held his chest shut.

BlackMetalGreymon roared as he thrashed around, trying to shake off Luffy.

"Way to go Luffy!!" Naruto yelled as he bounced of a few trees and leapt into the air.

**SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!**

In an instant about fifteen Naruto clones suddenly appeared in the air. All of them flung shurikens at BlackMetalGreymon. While most of the shruikens just bounced off his metal coating, a few them managed to strike the parts of him that weren't metal, which needless to say, hurt.  
BlackMetalGreymon roared in pain before aiming his metal claw at the airborne Naruto's.

_**MEGA CLAW!!**_****

He then shot his giant metal claw at the Naruto's. The giant claw not only took out the clones, but hit the REAL Naruto hard, and sent him flying backwards.

"NARUTO!!"

Sakura and the others watched as Naruto flew back and landed somewhere deeper into the forest.

"Great…" Inuyasha groaned. "Now we're one guy short!"

"I think we'll be ok as long as Luffy can hold those metal doors shut.

BlackMetalGreymon then swung his half metal tail upwards and slammed into Luffy who was still on his back. The force of the blow was enough to make Luffy let go of BlackMetalGreymon, allowing him to open up his chest again.

"Uh-oh…" Inuyasha and Sakura gulped.

_**GIGA BLASTER!!**_

He fired two more missiles at Inuyasha and Sakura. Inuyasha jumped up to try and intercept them.

"**IRON REAVER SOUL STE--**"

Before he could finish, the missiles slammed into him, which made a large explosion which sent him flying backwards and thru a few trees.

"INUYASHA!!" Sakura cried as she ran over to him.

Inuyasha rubbed his head as he slowly got up.

"Dammit…we're not getting ANYWHERE!!" He cried.

Sakura cringed when she saw BlackMetalGreymon slowly stalking over to them. Luffy was on his head, trying to pound his way thru the metal coating protecting his skull.

"Those missiles are a problem…" Sakura commented.

"Then what do you suppose we do?" Inuyasha asked.

Sakura thought for a moment before coming up with an idea.

"We're gonna use them against him!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Enlighten me as to how we're going to do that…" Inuyasha sarcastically commented.

"Just leave that to me!!" Sakura said as she ran towards BlackMetalGreymon.

Sakura ran up to BlackMetalGreymon and waved her arms rapidly.

"HEY!!" Sakura yelled. "OVER HERE!!"

"_What is she THINKING!?_" Inuyasha thought as he ran towards her.

BlackMetalGreymon opened his chest and shot more missiles out.

_**GIGA BLASTER!!**_

Sakura then pulled out a Clow Card and slammed her staff down on it.

"TIME CARD!!" She yelled. "STOP THE MOMENT!!"

A large field of energy suddenly exploded outward from the card, bathing the area in a greenish orange tint. Everything was frozen in position, except for Sakura.

Upon seeing that time had stopped, Sakura pulled out another card.

"Move Card…" She said. "Flip those missiles around!"

A pair of pink wings appeared on the missiles before they suddenly flipped so that they were facing BlackMetalGreymon.

Sakura just smiled as she called back the 'Move' card.

"Alright Time Card…" She said. "RESUME!!"

The area resumed its natural color and time kicked in again as the missiles suddenly rocketed towards BlackMetalGreymon, and exploded into his chest.

BlackMetalGreymon roared in pain as it stumbled backwards. Luffy jumped off his head as he crashed backwards and fell on his back, crushing a few trees in the process.

"Not bad Sakura!" Inuyasha smirked. "What did you do??"

"I stopped time…" Sakura smiled.

The three just looked at BlackMetalGreymon, who just layed on the ground lifelessly.

"Looks like that's it…" Inuyasha said.

"We should go find Naruto now…" Luffy said.

The other two nodded in agreement and began to walk off when they heard something.

"Oh...DON'T tell me…" Inuyasha groaned.

They all turned around and saw that BlackMetalGreymon was getting up, and he looked angry.

"For the love of…Why won't this thing stay down??" Inuyasha yelled.

Luffy put on a concerned look before bringing up his hand.

"I'll deal with this…"

He brought his hand to his mouth and stuck the tip of his thumb in his mouth.

"**GEAR…TH--**"

Before Luffy could even finish, they heard something from the bushes. They all turned and were surprised when Naruto jumped out and ran at BlackMetalGreymon.

"Naruto??" Sakura gaped.

"What's he doing??" Luffy asked.

"And what's he holding??" Inuyasha asked also.

As Naruto ran, he held his arm behind his back. In his hand was a blue orb of energy. Running behind him was a shadow clone that held the orb in place.

As they got closer, the clone suddenly vanished as Naruto dove towards BlackMetalGreymon.

"Take this…**RASENGAN!!**"

He then slammed the orb into his chest with all his might. All was silent for a moment into the energy from the orb exploded outward. BlackMetalGreymon roared in pain as the force of the orb blew him backwards, taking out any tree that was in his path.

Krad had to fly out of the way as BlackMetalGreymon flew back and tumbled across the ground before sliding across the ground and finally stopping, smoldering and lying defeated.

The others gaped at the size of the massive trail left by BlackMetalGreymon as he skidded across the ground.

"Wow…you did it!!" Sakura cried.

"And you only took out three quarters of the forest!" Luffy said.

"You say that like it's a good thing…" Inuyasha said.

Although Inuyasha didn't want to admit it…he was impressed, he didn't think Naruto had it in him to pull off a move like that.

"Told you not to underestimate me!" Naruto smirked.

--

Krad looked over the fallen beast with both disappointment and shock.

"That ninja boy…" He muttered. "There's no way someone like him could pull off a move like that…."

He then looked down at wear Naruto had hit BlackMetalGreymon.

"There must be more to him…." He said. "I'll look into it…."

With that, he held up the disc and it absorbed what was left of BlackMetalGreymon's data and then flew away.

--  
"So…what now?" Naruto asked.

"We go find the torch…." Sakura said.

"Well then let's go already!" Inuyasha said impatiently.

With that the four heroes began to walk away…until they heard a rumble.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO KILL THAT DAMN THING!?" Inuyasha screamed, taking out his sword.

"Actually….that was me…" Luffy said, clutching his stomach.

He and Naruto then dropped to the ground.

"We're still hungry!!" They groaned.

"You gluttons…." Sakura groaned.

"Gimmie a break!" Naruto said from the ground. "I just used my strongest move with no food in my system, that's rough!!"

Sakura and Inuyasha then grabbed them by their shirts and dragged them along the ground as they headed torch.

"Just deal with it!!" Inuyasha yelled as he dragged Luffy.

"We'll find food later…" Sakura said as she dragged Naruto. "Right now…let's just go…."

As they dragged them along, Inuyasha heard something and turned around, only to see Luffy with his mouth open and near Inuyasha's arm. Luffy then noticed he saw him and shut his mouth.

"Luffy…" He said. "Tell me were not about to bite my arm…."

Luffy was silent before answering.

"Well, it depends on how you'd taste…." He answered.

Inuyasha then grabbed him and flipped him over his head and slammed him into the ground.

"I'M NOT EDIBLE!!" He yelled.

Sakura and Naruto just gave an exasperated look.

"This….is going to be a looooooong journey…" Sakura sighed.


	13. Chocolate and Memories

**Chapter 13: Chocolate and Memories**

In Hellclaw's castle, all that could be heard was the footsteps of someone approaching the throne room. Hellclaw sat back on his throne as Krad entered, holding the disk in his hands.

"_How did it go?_" Hellclaw asked.

"I'm afraid…despite its valiant effort…." Krad said. "Your magnificent beast could not defeat the heroes…."

Hellclaw slammed his clawed hand against the armrest of the throne.

"_Damn those heroes…_" He cursed.

Krad then handed the disc back to Hellclaw, who examined it carefully.

"Despite those heroes constant meddling, I've been wondering about one of them in particular…" Krad said. "So I've done some research on the one the ancient's call 'The boy who bares Nine-Tails…' And I found something that might interest you…."

Krad then plucked out a feather, which transformed into a scroll, which he tossed to Hellclaw. Hellclaw immediately opened it and read its contents. As he read, a wicked smile appeared on his face.

"_Oh yes….VERY good Krad…_" He smirked evilly. "_And I assume you have a way of using this against them?_"

Krad just nodded.

"Indeed…" He said. "I have already devised of a way to use it to rip them apart…"

Hellclaw just gave an evil laugh.

"_Very good Krad…_" He said. "_I knew there was a reason I split you from your original host…_"

"And I am grateful for that…" Krad bowed. "Rest assured, if this does not kill them, it will at the very least, destroy their trust…which is a vital key to their teamwork…"

Hellclaw just laughed again as he rose up from his throne and began to walk away, clutching the disc in his claws.

"_Excellent…_" He said. "_Now be gone! I must find a way to improve on the data…_" Hellclaw said.

"Understood…" Krad said.

As Krad watched him disappear into the castle, he left the throne room and walked down the hallway, only to have DemiDevimon fly up and land on his shoulder.

"Oh sure…suck up the boss…" He said angrily. "Listen, if you ask me, I say--"

DemiDevimon didn't finish as Krad whipped around and grabbed him, bringing him to his face.

"I NEVER asked…" He said. "Now leave me be before I kill you…"

With that, Krad threw him against the wall as he walked away.

"Lousy…rotten…no good…angel…." DemiDevimon grumbled as he recovered.

Krad then whipped around and threw a feather at him, which hit him and electrocuted him on contact.

"I WAS KIDDIIIIING!!" He screamed as he was shocked.

--

Back in the ancient's world, Luffy and Naruto sighed as they followed behind Inuyasha and Sakura, and were still hungry.

"Ugh…so hungry…" Luffy groaned.

"I'd kill for some ramen right now…" Naruto added.

Inuyasha was up front with Sakura, hunched over and getting aggravated by having to listen to Naruto and Luffy complain.

"I swear…I'm going to kill those two…" He groaned.

"Just deal with it for now…" Sakura said. "Well find food soon…."

At that moment, both Naruto and Luffy gave out a loud cry.

"HUNGRYYYYYYY!!" They both wailed.

Inuyasha then turned around with a murderous look in his eyes.

"WILL YOU BOTH SHUT UP ALREADY!?" He yelled.

He then pointed to a tree that was not very far from them.

"If you're so damn hungry, why don't you go eat that tree!!" He yelled.

"I'm considering it…" Luffy groaned, rubbing his stomach.

It was then that an idea hit Sakura, who then turned to Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha…that's not actually a bad idea…" She said.

Inuyasha turned to her with a shocked look.

"Please…don't tell me the ONLY other sane person here has lost their mine too!!" Inuyasha cried.

Sakura just giggled.

"Relax…" She said. "I know what I'm doing…"

She then walked up to the tree, taking out her staff in the process. She then grabbed her Clow Cards and began to thumb thru the deck before finding the one she wanted. She thru the card into the air as the star on her staff began to spin wildly. She then slammed the staff down on the card, issuing a command.

"Sweet Card!" She yelled. "Transform this tree into something good to eat!"

The card glowed as a small, fairly like creature flew out of the card, carrying a small wand.

"What…is she doing?" Inuyasha asked.

The Sweet Sprite then flew over to the tree and tapped it with the wand. In an instant, the tree began to transform! The tree's bark became a dark brown chocolate, and a line of vanilla coiled it's way up to the tree's leave's which had become multicolored candies in the shape of leaves.

Inuyasha, Luffy, and Naruto just stood there gaping in shock.

"N…no way…" Naruto gaped.

"She just turned that tree into candy!" Luffy cried.

"Simply…crazy…." Inuyasha added.

When the transformation was complete, Sakura stepped back, calling back the Sweet Card.

"Well, it's not exactly a meal, but its food…" She said. "Dig in!"

Luffy and Naruto just stood there before screaming like maniacs and running towards the tree, biting into it almost instantly.

"The candy...it's REAL!!" Luffy cried as he bit off a piece of the tree.

"It's not ramen, but I'll take it!!" Naruto added as he shoved a few candy leaves in his mouth.

Inuyasha just stood there, utterly amazed.

"You can…make food?" He asked Sakura.

"Not really 'food' per say…" She explained. "The Sweet Card can turn inanimate objects into edible and delicious sweets…"

"I don't suppose one of those 'Clown Cards' could cook up some ramen by any chance?" He asked.

"It's _Clow _Cards…" She corrected. "And no, I don't have any that can make ramen…"

"What about one that could make meat??" Luffy asked with a mouth full of chocolate.

Sakura just giggled.

"Sorry Luffy… can't help you there…" She said.

It wasn't long until the two gluttons had just about finished off the entire tree. As Naruto was about to take another bite of the chocolate he looked down at it for a moment, studying it.

"_Chocolate…_" He thought. "_I was eating this before… I lost Sauske and Sakura…_"

--

It was a peaceful day in the Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto, Sauske, and Sakura, had just returned from their latest mission. They had the rest of the day off, so the decided to spend it relaxing in the forest.

"Thanks for buying the chocolate Sakura!" Naruto smiled as he ate.

"I know the owner of the candy store…so it's no big deal…" Sakura replied.

Sauske didn't reply, he just sat there quietly eating.

"Hey! Sauske!" Naruto yelled. "You could at LEAST say thanks!"

Sauske then stopped eating and glanced at Sakura.

"Thanks…" He said before resuming his eating.

Naruto just huffed, he always saw Sauske as a rude, arrogant, show off. But despite his faults, Naruto also saw him as almost a brother.

But it was then that they heard a loud crash of thunder.

"A storm?" Sakura asked.

"But it was so nice out…" Naruto said.

Sauske looked up at the sky with interest. He then noticed dark clouds gathering.

"Clouds are coming in…fast." He said. "We should go…."

Sakura then looked up and saw the clouds were actually starting to swirl!

"The clouds…their swirling!!" Sakura said. "Could it be a tornado??"

"But…theirs no wind…" Naruto pointed out. "…Think it could be Orochimaru?

"I doubt it…" Sauske said.

The swirling clouds suddenly opened up, with a red light shimmering out as if it were a portal. From the portal suddenly came a flock of ravens which flew down towards the three ninja's.

"B..Birds??" Naruto cried as he took out a kunai.

The three got into a fighters stance, expecting the worst. The ravens flew down to them, but just landed on the ground before them. The raven's just stood there, cawing every now and then.

"What the…"

Suddenly the birds actually began to melt! All three took a step back as they melted into a dark puddle which formed in one area. The dark puddle then rippled as something began to rise out of it. They all looked on as the menacing figure of Hellclaw rose out of the puddle and faced them.

"_Who is the one you call 'Naruto'?_" He asked.

"What's it to you?" Sauske asked, crossing his arms.

"_I'm in need of his abilities…_" He explained. "_Just tell me which one of you is Naruto… and I promise your deaths will be quick and painless…_"

The three then knew that this person was NOT friendly. Naruto stepped forward.

"You think you can kill US?" He asked. "Dream on! We have you outnumbered!"

"And don't underestimate us…" Sauske added.

"That's right!" Sakura said. "We're stronger then we look!"

Hellclaw just grinned.

"_And so am I young lady…_" He replied.

He then raised his hand to the sky and the clouds opened up again. Sakura and Sauske felt some kind of force around them before they both were suddenly pulled into the sky by some unknown force, and dragged into the clouds.

"NARUTO!!" They both cried.

"SAUSKE!! SAKURA!!" Naruto cried out.

Naruto watched in shock and horror as Sakura and Sauske disappeared in the clouds. The clouds then closed up again and Hellclaw laughed.

"_Well, now that I've disposed of those two… let's finish this…_" Hellclaw smirked.

Naruto was now beyond angry. He quickly performed rapid hand signs before calling out.

**MULTI-SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!**

In a flash, over 500 Naruto clones flooded the area, all of which were extremely angry.

"GIVE ME BACK MY FRIENDS!!" One screamed.

"OR ELSE YOUR GONNA PAY!!" The other 499 clones added.

Hellclaw just smirked, seemingly not worried at all.

"_Go ahead…make your move…_" He challenged.

All 500 Naruto's then gave out a loud yell before diving at Hellclaw. Hellclaw then shot his clawed hand out and grabbed one of the Naruto's by the throat, causing all the others to vanish into smoke, indicating that he had grabbed the real one.

"_Quite impressive young man…_" He smirked. "_But it will do no good against me…_"

"ERGH! What the heck!?" Naruto cried as he struggled to get out of his grasp.

Hellclaw's claw began to glow a vibrant red. Naruto gasped as he suddenly felt the life being sucked out of him.

"What….do you…want from me??" Naruto croaked out as the life drained from him.

"_Your stronger then you think you are…_" Hellclaw replied. "_I want your power…_"

As Naruto felt the energy being sucked from him, the clouds above him slowly opened up, and a light suddenly beamed down on Hellclaw and Naruto. Hellclaw screamed in pain, and dropped Naruto while backing away from the light, as the light burned him.

Naruto laid motionless on the ground as the light seemed to slowly lift him and yank him into the clouds, where he was sucked into a strange portal. All Hellclaw could do was scream in anger as Naruto disappeared.

--

"Naruto…HEY! Naruto!!"

Naruto suddenly looked up and found Sakura looking at him.

"Are you ok?" She asked. "You were spacing out there…"

"Oh? Me?" Naruto asked. "I'm fine…"

"Well, now that you two pigs are stuffed…can we get a move on??" Inuyasha asked.

"Sure…" Luffy said. "That tree should do as a good snack…"

"You call THAT a snack??" Inuyasha cried.

Naruto stood up, still holding the piece of chocolate in his hand.

"I'm ready to go if you guys are…"

They all nodded and then headed off towards the next torch.

"So…while we're walking….anyone up for a song?" Luffy asked.

"No…" Inuyasha said flatly.

Luffy completely ignored Inuyasha and began to sing rather loudly (and badly). As this was going on, Naruto looked down at the piece of chocolate in his hand and suddenly clenched his fist, causing the piece of chocolate to snap in half. He looked down at the remains of the chocolate with an angry look.

"Sakura…Sauske…" He mumbled to himself. "Just hang in there for me will ya? I'll be there…"

--

Well, that's the lastest chap, I plan to go thru how each of them lost their friends to Hellclaw, now that Naruto's story is taken care of, Only Inuyasha and Sakura's story...anyhow, R&R please


	14. Silent Night

**Chapter 14: Silent Night**

The four heroes later on stopped for the night in a small clearing. Sakura was fast asleep on the ground, dreaming peacefully. But that peace was soon shattered by a rumble that shook the ground.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open; she gave out a small yawn as she sat up.

"What was that?" She asked to no one in particular as she rubbed her eyes.

Another rumble shook the entire ground, jolting her awake. She looked around rapidly, and noticed something was missing.

"Wait…" She said. "Where are Luffy, Naruto, and Inuyasha??"

She stood up and began to look around blindly in the dark for her missing friends, when she heard a familiar voice.

**GUM GUM BAZOOKA!!**

This was followed by another rumble that shook the ground.

"Wait…that was Luffy…" Sakura commented.

**IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!!!**

Another rumble shook the ground even harder then the last (And sent Sakura to the ground again)

"And that was Inuyasha!" She cried as she got back up. "Maybe their in a fight!"

Sakura summoned her staff and grabbed her Clow Cards before running off towards the source of all the commotion.

She ran thru a thick series of trees before she arrived in another clearing, only to just sigh and rub her temples at what she saw.

What she saw was Luffy, Naruto, and Inuyasha fighting…each other. Sakura just huffed as she watched the boys fight.

"All that noise sounded like they were fighting another monster…but instead I find them killing each other…." She groaned.

Sakura then sighed as she approached the battlefield, where several large craters filled the area, all smoldering.

Luffy, Naruto, and Inuyasha fell from the air and landed on opposite sides of the field, before all three let out a battle cry and charged at each other. The three met in the center and prepared to attack…when Sakura called out.

"WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF!?!??!"

The three fighters suddenly stopped and turned to face Sakura, who approached them. The three boys looked at each other before pointing their fingers at each other.

"HE STARTED IT!!" The three cried out in unison.

Sakura just glared at the three, for she was in no mood for excuses.

"I don't care WHO started it…" She glared. "You three woke me up….if your gonna fight, take it somewhere else…"

"Well that's what we did!" Naruto cried.

"We didn't wanna wake you…" Luffy added.

"Well….you DID…" Sakura said.

She then began to walk away.

"If your going to argue…keep it down or else!"

It was then that Inuyasha made a big mistake.

"Or else WHAT!?" He challenged, brandishing his Tetsusaiga.

Sakura stopped and slowly turned around, with a murderous look on her face.

"…uh-oh…" Luffy gulped.  
--------------------------------------------

"You know…" Said Inuyasha. "I'm beginning to hate those stupid cards…"

"It's YOUR fault she did this…" Naruto grumbled.

"Just shut up…" Inuyasha replied bitterly.

The three boys sat there, buried in the ground with only their heads sticking out. Sakura had used one of the cards to bury them in the ground. She then left them there to rot while she went back to sleep.

"So…how long did she say we had to stay here?" Luffy asked.

"Till morning…" Naruto replied.

The three just groaned and hung their heads down.

"Greeeeat….I'm being buried alive by someone HALF Kagome's age…" Inuyasha groaned. "This is pathetic…I'm a freaking half-demon for crying out loud!!!"

"You know…" Luffy said. "Maybe we can dig ourselves out?"

"I think that would make her even MORE mad…" Naruto sighed. "Besides…too tired to dig…"

The three sighed and closed their eyes, trying to get some sleep. After a moment of silence, Luffy and Naruto spoke up.

"I'm cold…" Naruto said.

"I have to go to the bathroom…" Luffy complained.

"Weaklings…" Inuyasha grumbled.

Luffy just glared before suddenly stretching his neck and head over to his, and biting down on his ear.

"AAAAAAARGH!!!!" Inuyasha yelled in pain.

Luffy snapped his neck back and he and Naruto started to laugh.

"THAT DOES IT!!" Inuyasha yelled. "AS SOON AS I GET OUT OF THIS HOLE I'M GONNA--"

Before Inuyasha could finish his death threat, he stopped. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out…he could no longer talk! Luffy opened his mouth to laugh, but found that his voice was gone also! Naruto opened his voice, and found that his voice had vanished as well!

As the boys silently screamed, Sakura slept with a smile on her face, and holding the 'Silent' card close to her.

Luffy decided to take advantage of their silence, and stretched over and bit Inuyasha ear again, causing him to let out a silent yell of pain.

------------------------------------

The next morning, Sakura dug the boys out and gave them back their voices. As they continued on to the torch, Inuyasha dragged Luffy by his ear (Which was stretched out as he was dragged across the ground).

"OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!!!!!!" Luffy yelped. "Come on!!! It was Just a joke!!"

"Shut it rubber boy…" Inuyasha glared back at him.

"_I shouldn't have given them their voices back…_" Sakura thought.

"Look, why don't you just bite MY ear and call it even already!?" Luffy yelled.

Inuyasha turned around and opened his mouth, revealing a set of fangs.

"So you want me to bite you…with THESE fangs?" Inuyasha asked. "Interesting request, buuuut who am I to deny you pain?"

Luffy gulped.

"Uh….nevermind…" He said.

"Oh nonononono…" Inuyasha smirked evilly. "That's what you wanted…"

He then stretched Luffy's ear out even further and prepared to bite.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!" Luffy screamed, trying to pull his ear out of harms way.

Naruto had gone on ahead and climbed up a hill. When he reached the top, he gasped and turned to the others.

"Hey guys! Hold up!!" Naruto suddenly yelled.

"I'm a little busy right now!" Inuyasha replied.

"But guys!" Naruto said. "Just over this hill, it's the torch!!!"

* * *

Ok, this was mainly a short filler chapter to fill time before the next torch, so that's why it's so short...anyway, R&R


	15. Naruto's Secret

**Chapter 15: Naruto's Secret**

The four stood atop the hill, looking down at the torch. The torch was sitting on a patch of land that was surrounded by several sharp rocks that jetted up like tall spires. As the four walked towards the torch, they came across a large stone tablet that was sticking out of the ground. The stone tablet had the symbol on Naruto's headband carved into it.

"Hey! That's the symbol for my village!" Naruto cried, pointing at the tablet.

"Guess that means this is your show…" Inuyasha said.

Luffy then tapped Inuyasha on the shoulder.

"Hey? Inuyasha?" He asked.

"What now?" Inuyasha asked.

"WILL YOU LET GO OF MY EAR!?!?" Luffy yelled.

Inuyasha just sighed before letting go of Luffy's stretched out ear, causing it to snap back in place. Luffy rubbed his sore ear as they followed Naruto towards the torch. As they approached, a familiar figure floated down from the sky.

"KRAD!!!" Inuyasha yelled.

They all got into a fighting position as Krad stepped forward and pointed to Naruto.

"Are you the mortal called 'Naruto'?" He asked.

"What's it to you??" Naruto glared.

Krad smirked.

"Answer me a question…" He said.

Naruto gave him a suspicious look.

"Oookay…I'm all ears…" Naruto said.

"Please don't say that…" Luffy groaned, rubbing his ear.

"Tell me…Naruto…" Krad said. "Do you trust these people you call friends?"

Naruto just growled.

"What kind of question is that??" He asked. "Of COURSE I do!"

"Then why do you hide the truth from them?" Krad asked casually.

"What truth??" Naruto yelled.

"Oh I think you know what I mean…"

Krad smirked.

"Nine-Tailed Fox…"

Naruto cringed and took a step back.

"Naruto, what's he talking about?" Sakura asked.

"I....I don't know…" Naruto lied.

"See, you just lied to her!" Krad pointed out. "You don't trust them…"

Naruto just glared and ran at Krad.

"SHUT UP! You don't know a THING about me!!" He yelled.

As he said this, four Naruto clones appeared to back up the original. As they all dove at him, Krad vanished and re-appeared behind the real Naruto.

"On the contrary, my dear ninja…" He said. "I know ALL about you…"

In one lightning fast movement, he plucked a feather from his wing and slammed it into Naruto's back. The other clones vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto cried in pain as he fell to his knees.

"NARUTO!!" The remaining heroes cried.

The feather began to glow red before Naruto felt a jolt of pain. He screamed out in pain as the feather glowed a blood red tint.

"Stop it right now!!" Inuyasha yelled, pointing his blade at Krad.

"As you wish…" He replied.

He yanked the feather out of Naruto, who fainted on the ground.

"But let me show you what your dear friend has been hiding from you this whole time…"

With that, Krad tossed the feather to the side. The feather glowed again and began to transform. It grew to a giant size and took the shape of an animal. They watched as it turned into a giant fox, with dark red fur, and nine long tails.

Inuyasha's senses were going crazy; he felt a strong demonic energy seeping out from the creatures.

"What the hell is that!?" Inuyasha yelled.

"That would be in image of what's been inside your friend…" Krad replied. "You see…in his body, he carries the spirit of a powerful demon that once ravaged his land…Kyuubi…"

He then pointed to the fox.

"Of course…this isn't the real thing…but it can cause very REAL pain…"

The three remaining heroes growled and prepared to fight. But they then heard movement. They looked to the side and saw Naruto beginning to stand up.

"Hey! You're up!" Luffy cheered.

Naruto turned around…but he didn't look happy to see them. His eyes were completely red, and his canine teeth had grown into fangs.

"Uh…Naruto?" Luffy asked.

Naruto just growled. He got on all fours as a red demonic aura appeared around him and took the shape of the nine-tailed fox around his body (Albeit smaller to match Naruto's size)

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?" Sakura yelled to Krad.

"I merely forced the nine-tailed fox to come out an play…" Krad smirked. "What's more, I blinded your friend… so to speak… he won't be able to tell whose friend or foe while he's likes this…"

Krad just laughed as the other three glared at him.

"Rest assured though…since I forced it out of him, he'll turn back eventually…though I don't think you'll live long enough to see him normal again…"

With that, Krad vanished, leaving them to deal with the now demonic Naruto, and the fake Kyuubi.

"Great…now we got two issues to deal with…" Inuyasha growled.

Luffy put on a concerned look. Out of all the others, he had bonded with Naruto the most. He then took a step forward.

"Hey guys…." Luffy said to Sakura and Inuyasha. "Take care of the fox, I'll handle Naruto…"

Inuyasha gave him a look of disbelief.

"You sure stretch?" He asked. "I can feel the energy coming from him, he'll kill you!"

Luffy just gave off a confident smirk.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna die…" He said.

He then took his hat off and tossed it to Sakura.

"Hold this for me will ya?" He asked.

Sakura nodded and placed the hat on her head.

"Come on, let Luffy handle this…" Sakura said.

Inuyasha just sighed.

"Alright…just hope he knows what he's doing…"

Inuyasha then squatted down.

"Climb on my back…" He said to Sakura.

Sakura nodded and climbed up on his back. Inuyasha then suddenly took off running. The fake Nine-Tailed fox roared before tearing after Inuyasha and Sakura, leaving Luffy with Naruto.

Kyuubi Naruto just growled and stood there, watching Luffy like a cat ready to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse.

Luffy cracked his knuckles before getting into a fighters stance.

"Come and get me…" Luffy challenged.

Naruto took Luffy up on his offer and tore at him, running on all fours like a real fox. Luffy didn't expect Naruto to go so fast and was caught off guard as Naruto head butted Luffy in the chest and sent him sailing backwards. Luffy grinded into the ground and skidded before stopping, leaving a massive trail in the ground. Kyuubi Naruto then bounded into the air and shot himself towards Luffy. Luffy cringed when he saw his demonic friend coming at him.

**GUM GUM BALLOON!!**

Luffy suddenly inflated himself as much as he could. Naruto his enlarged belly and bounced right off it. Luffy then deflated himself and shot his fist out at Naruto before he had a chance to recover.

And **PISTOL!**Luffy's fist nailed Naruto in the chest and sent him flying backwards. Luffy then got up and ran at him as he hit the ground.

As Kyuubi Naruto recovered, He saw Luffy run and jump in the air. Luffy flipped in mid air and stretched his leg out.

**GUM GUM…**

Kyuubi Naruto darted to the side as Luffy sent his stretched out leg crashing down on where he once was.

**AXE!!**

Kyuubi Naruto dug his claws in the ground before diving at Luffy while he was still in the air. Naruto managed to grab Luffy in the air, and clawed at his back. Luffy winced in pain before he pressed his feet against Naruto's chest and stretched his legs out, sending Naruto straight up into the air.

Luffy flipped himself and landed on his feet. Luffy then decided to use one of his strongest attacks, hoping to end the fight as quick as quickly inflated himself as much as he could and began rotate himself. When he was all twisted up, Luffy exhaled and aimed his head at the ground. The force of him exhaling was enough to launch Luffy up into the air towards Naruto while spinning.

**GUM GUM…**Several Naruto clones appeared in the air along with the original. They all let out an angry yell as they fell towards Luffy.

**STORM!!!!**

Luffy then unleashed a massive flurry of stretched out punches at a speed that made it look like his fists had multiplied. The fists took out the clones in one hit, and pummeled into the real one. Kyuubi Naruto let out a cry of pain as Luffy's fists slammed into him. After what seemed like an eternity, Luffy finished with one long stretched out punch which hit Naruto in the gut and launched him even higher into the air. Luffy then lost momentum and began to fall limply back down to the ground…leaving him wide open for an attack.

Kyuubi Naruto recovered from his pummeling and dove straight at him, bringing his clawed hand back and charging up the same blue ball of energy, only without the aid of a shadow clone.

_**RASENGAN!!!!**_

The demonic ninja slammed the orb into Luffy's chest, before the energy exploded outwards and Luffy slammed into the ground hard, making a giant crater and shaking the entire ground on impact.

Kyuubi Naruto landed at the rim of the crater as dust cloud hung over it. As it began to fade, he saw the silhouette of Luffy standing up. He was breathing heavily and bleeding badly from the impact.

Naruto was shocked he even survived both the attack and the impact with the ground, but he just growled as he watched the pirate squat down.

Luffy's legs then began to bulge as blood was pumped into his body.

"I'm sorry this happened to you Naruto…"

Another bulge appeared on Luffy's legs as his skin began to change color.

"I really don't want to fight you…"

A third set of bulges appeared as steam began to billow out of his body.

"But… if I have to…I'll give it everything I have!"

Luffy placed his fist to the ground, which gave out a hiss as steam poured out from his body.

**GEAR….SECOND!**

* * *

Originally, the battle was gonna be Demon Inuyasha VS Kyuubi Naruto, but since Naruto and One Piece are both mainstream, I figured this would be much more intertaining (Plus it'll answer the age old question: Who would win? A pirate or a ninja?) Anyway R&R please ^^


	16. Pirate VS Ninja

**Chapter 16: Pirate VS Ninja**

Luffy stood back up, steam billowing from his body and his skin a pinkish tint. Luffy got into a fighter's stance and brought a hand back.

**GUM GUM….**

Kyuubi Naruto just roared and lunged at the Straw Hat Pirate.

**JET PISTOL!!!**

Luffy shot a stretched out punch at Naruto at a speed that made his whole arm completely vanish. Naruto was struck by the fist and was sent flying backwards, tumbling across the ground and leaving a massive trail carved into the ground. Luffy bent down before suddenly vanishing and re-appearing behind Naruto as he flew towards him. Luffy shot out another punch, which sent Naruto flying back the other direction. Luffy once again vanished and re-appeared behind Naruto ready to strike.

This time, when Luffy went to punch, it was Naruto's turn to vanish, leaving behind a log in his place. Naruto re-appeared behind Luffy and slashed him across the back with the chakra claws (Since the outline of the fox around him was pure chakra)

Luffy winced and stumbled forward. As Luffy turned to face him, Naruto dove and unleashed a rapid succession of slashes across his chest. In-between attacks, Luffy managed to grab Naruto's arm and fling him over his head and send him flying to the side. Luffy then took off after Naruto as he flew.

As he flew, Luffy grabbed him, maneuvered himself on top of him and placed his feet on his chest, stretching his legs down and slamming him into the ground. Naruto coughed blood as he was smashed into the ground. Luffy then bounded up into the air and shot a stretched out stomp on Naruto as he laid there.

**JET STAMP!**He then clasped the soles of his fee together while in mid-air and slammed his combined feet down on him. The force of the blow kept Luffy in the air while he attacked.

"And.." **SPEAR!!**

Luffy then proceeded to send out a flurry of rapid stretched out stomps on Naruto's exposed chest.

**JET STOMP!!!**

Luffy's attacks were so fast that his legs vanished, and below his torso were air ripples as he attacked.

Naruto continually coughed blood as he was attacked. Finally he roared and managed to grab one of Luffy's stretched out legs, despite how fast they were moving.

Kyuubi Naruto then yanked on Luffy's leg and pulled him down to him. As Luffy came flying down towards him, Naruto's chakra arm actually stretched out and smashed Luffy in the chest and slammed him into the ground, not to far from Naruto.

As the chakra arm retracted, Luffy coughed blood as he stood up in the crater.

"So…you can also stretch with that fancy glowing stuff surrounding you huh?" Luffy asked, smirking slightly. "Then this'll be fun!"

Kyuubi Naruto then once again ran at him on all fours, while Luffy all also ran at him, stretching both arms back behind him.

**GUM GUM….**

As the two met in the middle, Luffy thrusted his hands forward so fast that the vanished, with only the shockwave of the impact that struck Naruto visible.

**JET BAZOOKA!!**

As Naruto went flying backwards, Luffy arched back before stretching his arms out and grabbing Naruto, pulling him back towards him. Luffy then stretched his neck back before shooting his head forward as Naruto came close enough.

**JET BELL!!**

Luffy headbutted Naruto hard (At a speed that nearly broke his neck). Though Kyuubi Naruto refused to go down that easily. Naruto then wrapped the chakra fox tail around Luffy before crouching down and shooting high up into the air. He then threw Luffy back down towards the ground.

Luffy inflated himself as he fell, and bounced right off the ground and shot back up at Naruto.

_**MULTI-SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!!**_In the air, 50 Kyuubi Naruto clones appeared. As Luffy flew up, he shot right past them, but not before a clone managed to grab his ankles. Another clone grabbed the clone holding Luffy's ankles by HIS ankles! This process repeated until the Kyuubi Naruto clones formed a human chain in mid-air with Luffy at one end and the REAL Naruto at the other end.

The real Naruto grabbed the last clone by his ankles before swinging the chain of clones around in the air. Luffy attempted to free himself from the chain, but the clone gripped tightly on his legs.

Naruto then roared as he flung the chain up, and slammed it down towards the ground below him. Luffy screamed as he was flung down and slammed into the ground by the human chain of clones (Which made a giant crater in the ground).

The clones burst into smoke as Naruto landed and charged at Luffy who was still in the crater.

Before Luffy could get up, Naruto stretched the chakra arm back before shooting forward and hitting Luffy in the gut hard. Luffy spat up blood on the impact, but Naruto wasn't finished yet.

Naruto picked Luffy up by his shirt before bringing back the chakra arm again and hitting Luffy in the face, sending him flying.

Naruto got on all fours and ran after Luffy at top speed. By the time he caught up with Luffy, he was still flying from the previous attack. Naruto then jumped up and slammed his feet down on Luffy, riding on him as he grinded into the ground and left a trail of torn up earth.

When Luffy finally stopped, Naruto picked him up again, before once again coiling the fox tail around him.

The chakra in the tail began to emit a painful heat, which caused Luffy to scream in pain.

"GAAAH!!!" He yelled. "IT BURNS!!!!!!"

Luffy twisted up his lower torso up before stretching it and planting his feet firmly on the ground. He the maneuvered his arms free and as painful as it was grabbed the burning tail that held him.

He then unwound his torso, which caused his upper body to spin as he held the chakra tail, which caused Luffy to be freed from the grasp, and take Naruto along with him in the spin.

As the spin reached its end, Luffy released Naruto's tail, which caused him to fly off to the side.

Luffy wobbled about in a daze, as he was dizzy from the spin.

"Ugh….stop the ride please, I wanna get off…" He slurred as he wobbled.

Naruto dug his claws into the ground as he skidded. He then quickly recovered and charged at Luffy.

Luffy managed to regain his senses just in time to see Naruto coming at him. Naruto went in for a punch, but Luffy held up a stretched out leg and coiled it around his arm as he went to punch.

The two stood there for a moment, glaring at each other.

"Don't you get it?" Luffy asked, as steam billowed from his body. "I'll keep fighting you until you come to your senses….even if I have to break your legs!"

With Naruto immobile due to Luffy holding his arm, He stretched both his arms back.

**GUM GUM… JET BAZOOKA!!! **

Naruto coughed more blood as his chest was hit by Luffy's attack. As Luffy stretched back for another attack, Naruto's chakra arm began to burn again, which caused Luffy to yell and release his arm.

Naruto slashed Luffy across the chest before he went in for another attack, only for Luffy to vanish and re-appear behind him. Naruto also vanished as Luffy attempted to attack him.

With that, the two began to warp around the field, trying to hit each other, but either missing or blocking each other's attack.

The two eventually stopped, facing each other at opposite sides of the field.

_**MULTI-SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!**_

200 Naruto clones appeared, and they all yelled as they ran at Luffy. Luffy positioned himself and arched back.

**GUM…GUM…**He began to rapidly shoot out a series of stretched out punches, which attacked the clones.

**JET…**

If someone were to slow down time, they would see that Luffy was striking so fast, that ten fists seem to hit a clone at once.

_**GATLIIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

His arms were invisible as he struck. The only thing visible was the busts of smoke the clones burst into as they were struck and small ripples in the air in front of Luffy as he attacked.

Soon, no clone remained, and the real one was nowhere to be found. Luffy ceased his attack and began to breathe heavily and spit up blood.

He hunched over, feeling drained from the attack, when something grabbed him from behind. He looked and saw another clone had come up behind him!

He then turned forward again and gasped when he saw the real Naruto coming at him with a Rasengan in his hand!

Luffy attempted to escape, but by the time he escaped from the clone's hold, it was too late.

_**RASENGAAAAAN!!!!!!!!**_

An explosion of energy burst out as Luffy was struck in the face with the Rasengan. The whole ground shook as Luffy grinded thru the ground and smashed thru a few trees before coming to a stop by slamming into a boulder that was sticking out of the ground.

Kyuubi Naruto suddenly appeared over Luffy and picked him up. Luffy hung limply in his hands, blood trailing out of his mouth. Kyuubi Naruto then dropped him and slowly stalked off to find his next unfortunate victim.

Though as he stalked off, he felt something suddenly at his ankles. He turned and saw a pair of stretched out hands grabbing his ankles. He looked and saw Luffy lying on the ground with his face in the dirt. He was no longer in Gear Second, but he wasn't about to quit.

"I….already told you…" Luffy spat blood. "I'll….keep fighting till you come back to normal…"

Naruto bared his teeth and growled. He then tore his legs from Luffy's grasp and crouched down before jumping way up high.

Luffy weakly stood up to see what he was doing.

Naruto seemed to float in mid-air as he held a chakra hand out. Soon a Rasengan began to build up, though it suddenly grew bigger and bigger. Naruto was pouring all his demon energy into this one attack, hell bent on annihilating Luffy.

"…I'm seriously pushing my limits…." Luffy mumbled to himself.

He then brought his hand to his mouth.

"But this is for Naruto…"

He gave off a confident grin when he saw the Rasengan had grown giant in size.

**GEAR….THIRD!**He stuck his thumb in his mouth and stretched one arm back. He then bit down on his thumb and blew into it, pumping air into his bone.

**Hone Fuusen!!**

His hand soon grew as big as the giant Rasengan. He then transferred all the air into his midsection before transferring it to the stretched out arm, causing it to grow into the hand of a giant.

Naruto then let out one final roar before hurling the giant Rasengan at Luffy.

**GUM…GUM….**

Luffy brought back his giant arm before clenching his now oversized fist and shooting it out towards the incoming attack.

**GIANT PISTOL!!!!**

Luffy's giant fist slammed into the Rasengan which caused Luffy to scream in pain. He bit his lower lip and fought thru the pain and with all his might, actually punched the giant Rasengan back at Naruto, who's eyes widened as his attack was sent right back at him.

As it connected with Naruto, an explosion of energy released, lighting up the sky with a bright glow.

When the glow faded, Naruto fell from the sky and made a big crater as he hit the ground. Luffy (Who was also hit by the explosion of energy) weakly limped over to the crater, his arm still giant.

As he approached, Kyuubi Naruto slowly clambered out of the crater, smoldering from the attack. He slowly approached Luffy before stopping right in front of him. The two stared at each other in silence for the longest time before the chakra around Naruto finally faded, and he fell backwards, collapsing on the ground.

Luffy just gave his usual wide grin before he too collapsed on the ground, exhaling all the air inside him, and contracting down into a small form of himself. But even then, he still grinned widely, for he had managed to win.

* * *

Oookay, I just KNOW a lot of angry Naruto fans are gonna be flaming me claiming Naruto should have won the battle, and how 'Their's no way Luffy could punch back a giant Rasengan!!' Well the fact is...if Naruto defeated Luffy... he'd go after the others and defeat them and well...we wouldn't have much of a story now would we? the point is, don't overreact and start yelling at me about it... ok? anyway R&R


	17. Monster Within

**Chapter 17: Monster Within  
**

While Luffy was busy facing off against his friend, Inuyasha carried Sakura on his back as they fled from the giant Nine-Tailed Fox that trailed behind them.

"It's gaining on us!" Sakura cried as she placed a hand on Luffy's hat, keeping it on top of her head.

"You don't think I know that!?" Inuyasha yelled back to her.

The Nine-Tailed Fox roared as it tore at them, shaking the ground with every step it took towards them. As they ran, Inuyasha got an idea.

"Sakura!" He called to her. "Your gonna have to trust me for a second, okay??"

"Huh?"

Before she could react, Inuyasha suddenly grabbed her by her arm and flung her straight up into the air with all his might. Sakura screamed as she shot straight up and vanished from sight.

Inuyasha then skidded to a stop and took out his sword.

"Excellent, now that my hands are free…"

Inuyasha brought his blade back as the Nine-Tailed Fox came at him, ready to strike.

**WIND SCAR!!!!**

A massive wave of energy shot out of the Tetsusaiga and tore across the ground, striking the Nine-Tailed Fox and sending it skidding backwards before it tumbled and collapsed on the ground.

"Heh, serves you right…" Inuyasha smirked.

Inuyasha then heard the faint sound of screaming from above. He looked up and saw Sakura fall from the sky and towards him. He held his arms out and caught her in his arms.

"Well, gravity works…" He said.

Sakura was in a dazed state, hanging limply in Inuyasha's arms.

"….Inuyasha?" She suddenly said. "Come…closer…"

Inuyasha blinked in confusion before leaning closer….only to get smashed in the head by her staff.

"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!" Sakura screamed angrily.

Inuyasha just glared and purposely dropped her on the ground.

"Hey! I needed my hands free okay?!" He yelled.

"But that doesn't give you the right to throw me up in the air like that!!" Sakura yelled back.

As the two argued, they didn't noticed the Nine-Tailed Fox getting back up again and heading back towards them. By the time they noticed, it was standing right over them.

"MOVE!!!" Inuyasha yelled.

The two dove out of the way as the Nine-Tailed Fox tried to flatten them with one of its paws.

Sakura took out a Clow Card and slammed her staff down on it.

"**JUMP CARD!!**"

A pair of wings appeared on her heels as she suddenly jumped way up high, landing on the Nine-Tailed Foxes head.

The Nine-Tailed Fox roared and shook its head, trying to shake Sakura off. Sakura grabbed a bit of the fur on its head and held on for dear life.

Inuyasha dove at the Nine-Tailed Fox and swung his sword at one of its knees. A large slash appeared on its knee as blood shot out and the fox roared. It lifted its wounded leg and it fell down, smashing it's head on the ground.

Sakura jumped off the foxes head and landed to the side. Inuyasha smirked wickedly. With its head down on the ground, he had a clear shot.

"Time for me to end this!!"

He brought his sword up over his head and prepared to bring it down on the foxes head. But as he went to swing, he found that his sword wouldn't move at all! He turned around and his eyes widened when he saw Krad right behind him and holding his blade back.

"YOU!!!"

Inuyasha ripped his sword from Krad's grasp and swung it at him. Krad warped away and re-appeared a few feet away.

"GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!!!" Inuyasha yelled as he ran to fight Krad.

What he was unaware of, was the Nine-Tailed Fox slowly rising back up.

"INUYASHAAAA!!!" Sakura cried. "Get back here!!"

She then turned and watched the fox rise up slowly. She gripped her staff tightly as she watched it stand back up and turn its attention to her. She took out another card and slammed her staff down on it.

"**POWER!!**"

A new energy welled up inside her body as the Nine-Tailed Fox lifted its paw and tried to bring it down on her. She managed to barely dodge and ran underneath its giant body and into a clear area.

The giant beast turned to face her as she punched the ground, making a huge crack that ran along the ground. With the power card giving her super-strength, she reached into the hole she made grabbed its edges and pulled.

The fox watched curiously as Sakura pulled before she ripped out a large piece of the earth. She then yelled as she threw it at the fox. The chunk of earth smashed into the Nine-Tailed Foxes face and shattered. The fox roared in pain before it ran at Sakura, ready for the kill.

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Inuyasha held up the blade of his sword and blocked a barrage of incoming feathers from Krad. Krad smirked as he ran at him. Inuyasha swung his sword but Krad jumped and flipped over his head. He then threw a feather and the tip slammed into Inuyasha back, with the tip imbedding itself in his skin. The whole feather then exploded, which blew the half-demon forward.

Inuyasha skidded across the ground but flipped himself and got on all fours.

"Damn you…."

He tore at him on all fours before swinging his claws at him.

**IRON-REAVER SOUL STEALER!!!**

Waves of energy came from his claws as he swung. Krad's wings came forward and covered his body, shielding him from the blast. Krad then plucked a feather from his wings and held it by its end. The feather itself then grew to a large side and the soft feather became hard as steel and extremely sharp. Krad then lunged and swung the feather, swinging it like a sword.

Inuyasha held up his blade and blocked. The two then began to clash as they swung their weapons at each other, each trying to slice the other in two.

"You look like an angel…but think like the DEVIL!!" Inuyasha spat as their weapons clashed.

"And you look like a demon, but act like a worthless MUTT…" Krad retorted.

Krad then slid his sharp feather across Inuyasha's blade before he spun it and smashed it into the side of the Tetsusaiga, causing it to fly from Inuyasha's hands.

"NO!!!"

He watched his sword fly through the air and imbed itself in the ground a good distance away. He suddenly turned and slammed his shoulder into Krad's chest before he made a mad dash for the sword.

Krad quickly recovered and threw a feather at Inuyasha, which flew through the air and stuck to his back.

"Geh!" Inuyasha winced before he kept running for his sword.

With a snap of his fingers the feather electrocuted Inuyasha, causing him to fall to the ground.

He slowly stood back up and turned, only to see 30 feathers, all with razor sharp tips flying at him. He held up his arms to shield his face as he took the hit and multiple feathers all hit him head on.

"GYAAAAAH!!!"

He yelled in pain as they all pierced his skin and blood splurted out of his wounds. He weakly lowered his arms from his face, only to be greeted by the sight of Krads fist flying towards his face. Inuyasha was knocked back down as Krad punched him. Krad then jumped back and snapped his fingers.

The feathers stuck to Inuyasha all suddenly exploded, earning another scream of pain from the half-demon. When the smoke cleared, Inuyasha laid there motionless. Krad smirked and placed a foot on his neck.

"Worthless demon…." He smirked. "You're _nothing_… Taking care of the rest of your friend should be child's play…"

Suddenly, Inuyasha's hand grabbed Krad by his ankle. He looked down and tried to move his foot, but found that he couldn't. Inuyasha's eyes then snapped open, only they were now glowing a fierce red.

"…_What's this power flowing from him?_" Krad thought.

Inuyasha then without hesitation squeezed Krad's ankle before he effortlessly lifted him and slammed him into the ground. Inuyasha then leapt back to his feet, growling.

His fangs grew and so did his claws as purple streaks appeared on his face. He let out a demonic roar fueled by pure primal instinct as he stared down Krad.

Krad slowly got back up again.

"He's much stronger now…" Krad mused. "Fascinating…"

Inuyasha roared before he ran at him on all fours like a dog. Krad hovered in the air before he flew backwards while facing Inuyasha. Inuyasha continued to run at him, despite Krad flying faster then he could run.

Krad then began to throw feathers at him to try and slow him down. Each one exploded, but not one of them slowed him down. Krad was actually worried now, seeing as Inuyasha was starting to catch up.

Sakura ripped a tree out of the ground and hurled it at the giant fox. The beast caught it in its jaws before snapping it in half.

"I can't keep this up…." She panted.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a dust cloud approaching her direction. She had no time to make it out, as she jumped to the side to avoid being crushed by a massive paw. The fox then opened its mouth and a ball of energy began to build up.

Her eyes widened as she began to shuffle through her deck rapidly until she found the card she needed. Soon the energy orb was giant before the fox opened fire and it shot out of its mouth like a beam.

Sakura slammed her staff down on the card as the beam came streaking at her.

"**SHIELD!!!**"

The beam blew right through her as the shield came up just in the nick of time. The beam didn't touch Sakura, but it decimated anything and everything in it's path. The beam soon faded and the shield around her dropped.

She then looked and saw the dust cloud was much closer now, and she could see it was Krad and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha was now extremely close to Krad as he flew backwards. Inuyasha roared before he lunged at Krad. Krad then vanished before he could grab him, causing the half-demon to skid across the ground.

Inuyasha's head whipped from side to side, trying to find Krad. The Nine-Tailed Fox saw Inuyasha and decided to change targets. It let out a roar which shook the earth as he charged at him.

Inuyasha turned and saw the fox and crouched down on all fours before he sprang upwards towards the foxes head. He then brought his arm back and swung at it's neck, slicing it with his extended claws.

Dark mist spewed from the wound on it's jugular as the fox roared in pain and fell to the ground. Since the fox was only an illusion, that was all it took to bring it down. The fox then slowly faded away, leaving behind one of Krad's feathers.

Krad had been watching all of this from the top of a nearby tree..

"_Incredible…_" He thought. "_When his life was endangered, he reverted to this primal form…and he took out my fake Kyuubi with one attack…_"

Sakura looked on in wonder and fear.

"…I've never seen him act this violent…" She murmured to herself. "He slit it's throat…"

Inuyasha however had heard her and he instantly spun to face her. Sakura took a few steps back when she saw his eyes now red and his claws were much larger.

"..I…Inuyasha…?"

Inuyasha then let out another roar before he tore towards Sakura with murder in his eyes. Krad just smirked as Sakura screamed in terror.

You didn't actually think this fic would go on without Demon Inuyasha making an apprearence, did you? Anyway, before people say 'How could Inuyasha kill the Kyuubi???' remember, this was a FAKE one, not nearly as strong as the original.

Anyway, R&R


End file.
